... a surprising book, even an astonishing one, overcoming all those initial concerns in its luminously honest and affecting first chapter. Jukes is a gloriously gifted writer and her book ought to become a key text of this bright moment in our history of nature writing. I was reminded of William Fiennes’s The Snow Geese and Amy Liptrot’s The Outrun, but these resonances should not obscure the uniqueness of a book that quietly, beautifully, rewired my heart as I read it.

... if you can’t literally sink into a honey-sweet bee colony, sinking into Helen Jukes’ A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings: A Year of Keeping Bees is surely the next best thing.

Jukes’s account of her year of keeping bees meets all the demands of the new nature-writing genre.

Once the bees arrive, the pace of the year picks up. As a reader, I found myself sneaking away to check on Helen and her bees. There is something magical about these creatures that seem so domesticated, but are not. And there is a magic to this book, as well..

Throughout [Jukes'} journey, we see the importance of nature and the potentially devastating effects our separation from nature can lead to.

While [Jukes] waited for the appropriate time to begin her new hobby, she plunged headlong into the complex history of bees and beekeeping through the centuries, and she shares her extensive research with readers. Though informative, these elements are occasionally dry. Fortunately, Jukes juxtaposes this history with her ongoing interactions with her hive, which brings her tale back to life.

... evocative.