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Of Bees and Mist

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Setiawan's richly atmospheric debut chronicles the passions, betrayals, and complex domestic politics of three generations of women whose emotional lives manifest as supernatural phenomena.

In a nameless town in a timeless era, where spirits and spells are an everyday reality, sixteen-year-old Meridia has grown up lonely and neglected in a house literally haunted by the demons of her parents' soured love. When she falls for the charming and boyish Daniel, she sees her first real chance for love and happiness. She moves in with his family, unaware that they are harboring dark secrets of their own. There is a grave hidden in the garden. There are two sisters groomed from birth to despise each other. And there is Eva, the formidable matriarch whose grievances swarm the air in an army of bees.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Meridia suffers through an emotionally impoverished childhood with noncommunicative parents. Narrator Marguerite Gavin's crisp tones convey Meridia's upper-class home, where what little tenderness she manages to garner comes only from her nanny. Varying her pace to characterize a wide range of characters, Gavin carefully portrays Meridia's impervious father, breathily distracted mother, and germaphobe nurse. Gavin accurately captures Meridia's confusion at the behavior of the adults who fail to fulfill her emotional needs and depicts her shyness and isolation, in particular, through the numerous rhetorical questions she wonders about but never actually asks. Gavin's performance amplifies the mysterious and ironic undertones of the story. M.R. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 1, 2009
      Setiawan’s debut novel spans 30 years in this heartfelt magical-realist story of two rival families living in a mystical world that transcends both time and place. Meridia is a lonely child; a mysterious incident when she was an infant has torn apart her parents, leaving them sharing nothing but a cold, mist-filled home. Not until Meridia meets the charmer Daniel, at age 16, does she finally feel loved. They marry and move in with his family and at first Meridia loves her life in Daniel’s home. But she quickly learns of matriarch Eva’s deceitful, manipulative ways and her power, both natural and supernatural, which she uses to control her family. When Meridia rebels against Eva, finding unexpected support from her parents, the rivalry solidifies and a lifelong battle begins. As time passes, Meridia faces heartbreak and betrayal, becoming a strong, fiercely independent woman. While filled with fortune-tellers, ghosts and unexplained phenomena, the relationships between the various characters are true to life so that fans of fantasy and fiction lovers alike are sure to enjoy this magical tale.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 3, 2009
      Reality has been tipped askew in Setiawan supernatural story of mothers and daughters, husbands and wives. Me-ridia grows up in a home where the magic and hostility are so thick, mist wraps envelops the house and her bitter relationship with her in-laws becomes a battle against swarming bees that nettle the skin and heart. Marguerite Gavin's riveting performance brings light and clarity to Setiawan's provocative fantasy. Particularly creative and af-fecting are her renderings of the bees and Meridia's empathetic voice. Her characterizations are on target, and her tone is tone is as intense as the unfolding drama, and her characterizations are on target. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, Jun.1).

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  • English

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