Experience the Enchanting Murmur of Bees with the Segovia Sofa by Simon Bruni

Catherine: This story of the Morales family in Mexico is written with a lyrical prose. There are several facets to the story. The babY with the cleft palate left under the bridge to die ,who us basically an empath. The head if the family who owns a large hacendia the peon who develops an intense hatred for the landowner over 19 years.

The story weaves like a tapestry.

United States on Jan 04, 2024

Unbiased and keepin' it 100: Mexican revolution, Spanish flu, Cristero War and the Constitution of 1917, agrarian reform… this family lived through it all.

To say this novel struck a chord within me, is akin to saying you’ll see a star at night. Translation: a big fat DUH!
This was absolutely beautiful. Admittedly at times I was utterly confused by the switch of storytellers and how they weren’t always told in chronological order. But my goodness, the sheer breadth of history this family lived thru and the experiences that was presented at the forefront is amazing.
While in recent times we lived through global pandemic that was COVID, imagine if we lived in a rural area without the modern conveniences electricity & running water, a telephone (forget email and DMs), DoorDash to bring us groceries, ubereats to make our favorite eateries accessible and of course Amazon to bring us whatever struck our fancy. The pandemic of 2020 would’ve been an utter tragedy of a different kind. That my friend was the great Spanish Flu.
But the greatest thing the author did here was to put history into context through a human lens. Oh his death sparked a rebellion and a revolution… but a family...

United States on Sep 18, 2023

Lynn: Nana Reja found a child with a common lip malformation that the people said was marked by the devil, and one that tended to kill children because they starved to death in the early 1900s. That child was covered by a blanket of honey bees, and Nana brought the bees with her when she wrapped the baby and carried him out from under the bridge where he had been left, because the bees had not harmed him or her. The child had been left to die, but the bees protected him and kept his little body warm.

The baby was to be named Simonopio and is adopted as a Godson into the family of Franscisco and Beatriz Morales. The bees were not chased away and stayed with Simonopio always and he could speak with the bees, but not with people.

When the Morales family had a baby boy late in life when their daughters were grown and married, it was Simonopio that watched over him. It was only ever Franscico Junior that could speak the strange language of the bees that Simonopio spoke, and they were as brothers.

This is in many ways a lovely story, but it was written in the time of the Spanish American War and the Spanish Flu and there was a great deal of death and sadness woven into...

United States on Sep 09, 2023

JANE L GOLLMER: I absolutely loved this book. The characters were so fascinating and believable. The story was very touching and unusual. I couldn’t put it down and it brought me to tears throughout the entire book,

Canada on Sep 04, 2023

Illanjana Bhadra: The story wraps me like a warm blanket in the chaotic times. It creates a realistic world in my imagination. I KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING. Simonopio, I'll miss you.

India on Jul 26, 2023

Louise Davis: This novel is the best I have read in a long time. Sofia Segovia is an undiscovered gem. Worthy of many prizes.

Spain on Sep 17, 2022

A. Merkel-Hennig: Wunderbare Geschichte, interessante Charaktere, gute Schilderung des historischen Hintergrundes.

Germany on Jul 09, 2022

Rose Angelica Moreno: I'm a voracious reader with my reading of one or two books at one time, so I rarely come across something as special as The Murmer of Bees. It was an incredible journey of love, acceptance and even hate in a roller coaster ride, I didn't want to end. A rare gem that now makes me want to read the original Spanish version, evnthough the translation was masterful. I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. Sofia is a wonderful writer and her imagery vivid and colorful.

Mexico on May 10, 2019