The Beekeeper's Apprentice Archives

103 years ago today…

April 8, 2018 by Laurie King 8 Comments

…two people met on a patch of countryside:

I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs,

and nearly stepped on him. In my defence I must say it was an engrossing book, and it was very rare to come across another person

in that particular part of the world in that war year of 1915. In my seven weeks of peripatetic reading amongst the sheep

(which tended to move out of my way)

and the gorse bushes

(to which I had painfully developed an instinctive awareness)

I had never before stepped on a person.

(from The Beekeeper’s Apprentice)

Happy 103rd anniversary, Russell & Holmes!

BEEKEEPER among the greats!

April 3, 2018 by Laurie King 10 Comments

I was greatly honored to find that The Beekeeper’s Apprentice has been given a place among the Goodreads 100 Top Mysteries, here.

Looking at all those other names–Christie and Conan Doyle among them–both makes me think, Yeah there’s some mistake there and makes me very proud and happy.

How many of the books have you read?

Sherlock and the queen

October 4, 2017 by Laurie King 4 Comments

Miss Russell’s Brilliant Friends

October 3, 2016 by Laurie King Leave a Comment

Many and many a year ago, in a (LR)Kingdom by the sea, we started celebrating various events (new books, Library Week, St. Swithun’s Day) by running contests. Some of these involved art, others words. We did crossword puzzles, pirate haiku, Russellscapes, “My Dream Library”—you name it, we’ve done it (next up: videos.)

When we moved the web site this past spring, one of my demands was that these “fan” contributions be preserved. Despite the huge number of bytes all that art took up, despite the need to find high-res files for some of the older pieces, despite the hair-pulling of any number of programmers, developers, and (yes) authors, we kept our hands on all that art.

And now it’s there. Most of it anyway (let me know if we’re missing yours!) and more of it will be added as we locate missing files or fiddle with those we have to make them less minuscule. Take a look at our new FUN STUFF tab on the web site, beginning with the soon-to-be-reinvented Maryorama (the art piece formerly known as Russellscape.)

Some of the art is by Team LRK (ie, me and the Photoshop Guru, Robert). Much of this (my web people had to shift me to a bigger, faster server) is of a printable size, in case you feel like framing a Pirate King movie poster for your wall

or printing off some Dreaming Haiku sheets

for your book group.

There are also printable crossword puzzles, some samples of fan cosplay and tattoos, and even the original proposed cover for Beekeeper’s Apprentice that caused the author to quit before Russell’s memoirs even got underway.

And of course, the Maryorama (Russellscape), with a (yes!) contest, for prizes of a complete set of Russells (including the mouthwateringly gorgeous Mary Russell’s War) or some of those printable posters in full size. The contest is in its last days, since it closes the 15^th, so sharpen those pencils, run your mind over your favorite scene from the Memoirs, and get yourself creating.

Or puzzling, or printing, or just enjoying the amazing work of the Russell & Holmes community. Start here.

Novel therapy

June 6, 2016 by Laurie King 10 Comments

One of my favorite bloggers, The Passive Voice, reposted a piece about novel therapy:

British libraries offer full bibliotherapy services, including recommendations and exhaustive reading lists based on condition, to anyone, at every library in the U.K., at no cost.

Experts say books featuring characters or people that share a patient’s struggles can be an incredibly important piece of a larger treatment plan designed to give patients something a pill can’t always offer: Hope.

Bibliotherapy likely first came to the U.S. from Britain after World War I, English bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud said, when it was found that Jane Austen novels helped calm soldiers afflicted with PTSD (then called “shellshock”). Then, as now, the main premise of bibliotherapy is pretty simple: Personal transformation through reading.

I am occasionally told by readers how incredibly helpful one or another of my books has been in getting them through a tough spot, either through distraction (Beekeeper’s Apprentice seems to be a popular read-aloud for long hours by a hospital bed) or through inspiration (the reader who wrote to say she’d been clean and sober for two years after reading the passage in Monstrous Regiment where Russell smashes the hypodermic needle.) Such letters always leave me feeling very small and humble, that a collection of my words could serve such a function more profound than entertainment.

Do read the rest of this post, in the Deseret News, here.

Beekeeper scarf

March 17, 2016 by Laurie King 12 Comments

Back before Christmas, I mentioned here that the Goodreads community were feeling out interest in a Beekeeper’s Apprentice “infinity scarf“. Well, it’s taken a while, but the good lady who makes the things has put up a sales link, for a limited edition, limited-time sale of the scarf. It is printed with the beginning of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, and although I haven’t seen one left, I have to say it looks really lovely. 10248_10153572954260838_3378102928816085422_n

The sales link is here. I’d recommend you not wait too long….

Russell infinity scarf

December 8, 2015 by Laurie King 57 Comments

The Book Club folk have asked me to post here on Mutterings to see if anyone else might be interested in joining their order for a Mary Russell Infinity Scarf, from an Etsy seller. Here’s the Sherlock Holmes one, with a page of Hound of the Baskervilles running along it:

This wouldn’t be until after the first of the year, though presumably while it’s still chilly here in the northern hemisphere. If you’re interested, either pop over to Goodreads and join the discussion, or post a comment here and I’ll be in touch when the order has been placed. They’ll be around $42, I’d guess shipping added. (Oh, and it’ll probably be the opening of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.)

Mary Russell, meet Sherlock Holmes

November 23, 2015 by Laurie King 35 Comments

Team LRK has a new video for you, based on a piece of prose you may recognize:

“I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes…”

Common Core supplements

August 25, 2015 by Laurie King 1 Comment

Whether you’re interested in the Beekeeper’s Apprentice Common Core syllabus for a class, or would just like to see some background material, we’ve now added a whole lot of materials to the supplemental section–such as a selection of cartoons from Mr Punch Goes to War:

SCENE: HOTEL.

LITTLE GIRL: “Oh, Mummy! They’ve given me a dirty plate.”

MOTHER: “Hush, darling. That’s the soup.”

And a piece on Great War poems:

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge…

There’s an excerpt from Maurice Maeterlinck’s classical treatise on Beekeeping (the one that appears at the head of each chapter of Beekeeper):

And now let us return to the city that is being repeopled, where myriad cradles are incessantly opening, and the solid walls even appear to be moving. But this city still lacks a queen. Seven or eight curious structures arise from the centre of one of the combs, and remind us, scattered as they are over the surface of the ordinary cells, of the circles and protuberances that appear so strange on the photographs of the moon.

Videos of the 12 year-old Great War soldier:
There is also a student packet, for teachers who want to introduce their students to the Twentieth Century through The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. The idea of a Common Core syllabus is to give students primary source material they can build a research project around.

Or, for people who are just interested in reading them. It’s all here.