LJ131 Bookers: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Bookers: The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray

This brilliantly funny, deeply sad portrait of an Irish family in crisis is also a 2023 Booker Prize shortlist.

Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under - but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker. His exasperated wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while half-heartedly dodging the attentions of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike. Meanwhile, teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And 12-year-old PJ, in debt to local sociopath ‘Ears’ Moran, is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away.

Yes, in Paul Murray’s brilliant tragicomic saga, the Barnes family is definitely in trouble. So where did it all go wrong? And if the story has already been written – is there still time to find a happy ending? 

About the organizer: An AI scientist trained in Oxford, UK, Saumya has worked previously as a researcher, technology consultant and a university professor across India and the U.K. Now based in Paris, she is pursuing her long-standing interest in the fine arts, literature and writing.