Very well written book about Afghani refugees settling down in Denmark and the anti-immigration sentiments felt by some of the Danish population. The book main protaganist
Raihana is brave enough to accept an apprentice job with Gunnar, a Danish elderly widowed male who keeps bees as a hobby. She endures much criticism for taking on this apprentice job from her fellow Afghanis Layla and Kabir and others. Then she has to take on a depressed Gunnar and ends up cleaning his house as well. She learns to read a diary of Gunnar's dead wife Anna regarding Bees. She also has to face a barage of criticism and unkindness shown by Gunnar's children and daughter-in-law Maria. The plot gets more complicated when Layla and Kabir assure Raihana she is a widow - her husband they confirm has been killed back in Kabul by the Taliban. They introduce her to a Pakistani man who has a wife and children in Pakistan but wishes to marry Raihana and live in Denmark. In the meantime, Raihana is introduced to racism first hand by stone throwing and fire bombing of Layla and Kabir's house. The boy who originally did the stone throwing at Raihana was a pro Hitler fanatic and was warned by the police and was made to pay restitution to Gunnar and Raihana for the damage caused by the stone throwing. However, the boy did not learn from the warning and waited to firebomb Layla's house. After the firebombing, Gunnar feels guilty because he knew the parents of the boy who throw the stones at Raihana and felt the boys were let off the hook to easily. He replaces some of the furniture etc that were destroyed in the firebombing and the parents of the boy replaced the computer. Raihana then marries Rafeeq the Pakistani she was introduced to. The book was well written and the plot was very well dealt with. The anti-Muslim sentiment seems to have been prevalent after 9/11. All in all a good read.
Raihana is brave enough to accept an apprentice job with Gunnar, a Danish elderly widowed male who keeps bees as a hobby. She endures much criticism for taking on this apprentice job from her fellow Afghanis Layla and Kabir and others. Then she has to take on a depressed Gunnar and ends up cleaning his house as well. She learns to read a diary of Gunnar's dead wife Anna regarding Bees. She also has to face a barage of criticism and unkindness shown by Gunnar's children and daughter-in-law Maria. The plot gets more complicated when Layla and Kabir assure Raihana she is a widow - her husband they confirm has been killed back in Kabul by the Taliban. They introduce her to a Pakistani man who has a wife and children in Pakistan but wishes to marry Raihana and live in Denmark. In the meantime, Raihana is introduced to racism first hand by stone throwing and fire bombing of Layla and Kabir's house. The boy who originally did the stone throwing at Raihana was a pro Hitler fanatic and was warned by the police and was made to pay restitution to Gunnar and Raihana for the damage caused by the stone throwing. However, the boy did not learn from the warning and waited to firebomb Layla's house. After the firebombing, Gunnar feels guilty because he knew the parents of the boy who throw the stones at Raihana and felt the boys were let off the hook to easily. He replaces some of the furniture etc that were destroyed in the firebombing and the parents of the boy replaced the computer. Raihana then marries Rafeeq the Pakistani she was introduced to. The book was well written and the plot was very well dealt with. The anti-Muslim sentiment seems to have been prevalent after 9/11. All in all a good read.
