Laline Paull

Your debut novel is called The Bees. What made you want to write this story?

A beekeeper friend died far too young, and though I’d never been particularly interested in bees, I started to read about them because she loved hers so much. And very quickly I realised that there is a world of drama and stories behind the walls of the hive, and my imagination flared up like never before.

I knew I had a book when I found out about the laying worker, that one in ten thousand sterile female bees, who suddenly, and for no known reason, start forming eggs in their bodies and become fertile – the sole role of the queen of the colony. From this biological anomaly, came all sorts of dramatic ideas – but nothing stranger than the truth.

“There is a world of drama and stories behind the walls of the hive.”

What makes this book stand out — why should someone pick it up?

Well it’s been called a thriller set in a beehive, a Cinderella story, an adventure yarn, a political allegory – but the most constant comment I’ve had from readers is “I’ll never look at bees the same way again.”

Have you become a ‘bee person’ yourself — hives at home and all?

I think I have to call myself a bee person now, the bees have been so good to me, and I must return the debt, with interest. I don’t keep bees myself at the moment, though I can imagine a time when I will – but I feel a very real responsibility to help raise awareness of the plight of pollinators, and writing this book has made me much more environmentally aware, and active.

“The bees have been so good to me, and I must return the debt.”

What advice would you give to someone trying to write a book, or struggling to finish one?

I’ll turn to Goethe for a quote, ‘Do not hurry, do not rest.’ I think above all, if you really feel the compulsion to write, then you must be friends with your true self, and trust yourself. Because only then will you have the confidence to tell a story that is grounded in conviction. Also, don’t give up. I wrote The Bees age 48, in complete obscurity. It can happen.

You clearly read widely — which books have stayed with you, and why?

You cannot ignore The Canterbury Tales, as a comic catalogue of human nature – not a lot changes. And Chaucer’s storytelling ability is an education to a writer. I also love PG Wodehouse, and I would not be the writer I am today, without the great Margaret Atwood.

“It can happen.”

What does a great story give us that nothing else quite can?

Mischievously, I’m going to say people should indulge their love of story in any and every form that takes their fancy – and if they love the form of the book, then they should buy from indie bookstores so that we keep those open, and they – we! – should read as much as gives us pleasure and no more. A good book will automatically lead to searching for another.

Laline Paull is a British author, best known for her debut novel The Bees, a Baileys Women’s Fiction Prize–shortllisted work exploring nature, society, and survival through the world of the hive.

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Interview by Carl Marsh