The Beekeeper of Aleppo

“I am scared of my wife’s eyes. She can’t see out and no one can see in.”

This is the first sentence of the novel and creates a powerful image. Nuri is talking about Afra’s blindness. The sentence sets up the intrigue as to why Afra is blind and also gives the first indication of the state of the relationship between Nuri and his wife, which is closed off and full of fear and mistrust.

“Which road to take, whom to trust, whether to raise the bat again and kill a man. These things are in the past. They will evaporate soon, like the river.”

In England in the temporary lodgings with the other refugees, Nuri reflects on the wait for the authorities’ decisions about their future. He feels it is no longer in his hands. The mention of killing a man with a bat foreshadows what he will later reveal about his past. The reference to the river drying up reflects the symbol of water, which runs through the book. It is also a reference to the drought which contributed to the civil war in Syria.

“The bees are family to us.”

After the civil war starts, Mustafa sends his wife and daughter to England. He stays with his son in Aleppo because of the bees, which he cannot abandon. This line encapsulates the importance of the bees in Mustafa’s life. They have provided him with a family to replace his lost mother and given him a purpose in life.