Review of "Mad Honey: A Novel" by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

This book is a collaboration between co-authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan.


Jodi Picoult (left) and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Jody Picoult's novels always feature a 'big topic' - such as racism, the Covid pandemic, elephant intelligence, etc. In this book the topic is beekeeping, and the book provides a fascinating picture of this profession as part of the story.

*****

Olivia McAfee left her abusive husband - a successful cardiac surgeon named Braden Fields - when she feared his violence might spread to their six-year-old son Asher.





Olivia and Asher fled Boston and moved to Olivia's hometown of Adams, New Hampshire, where Olivia took over her late father's beekeeping business. Asher is now a senior at Adams High School, a star athlete, and a good student.

Ava Campanello and her daughter Lily also moved to Adams, New Hampshire to get away from an abusive husband and father. Ava is a Forest Ranger, and had to sacrifice some of her beloved field work for a desk job, but was happy to do it for Lily's well-being.



In New Hampshire, Lily enters Adams High School as a senior, and plays cello in the school band. Lily and Asher Fields soon meet and start dating.



Asher and Lily become a couple, and engage in the usual behavior of teens in love. Both adolescents harbor secrets, however, which leads to the occasional misunderstanding and disagreement. Then one day Lily is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, and Asher is arrested for her murder.



Asher insists he's innocent, but the authorities accumulate enough evidence to take him to trial. Olivia's brother Jordan McAfee, a renowned defense attorney, takes Asher's case and carefully crafts a trial strategy for his nephew. Thus part of the book is a courtroom drama, and I enjoyed the parrying between the prosecution and defense.



Meanwhile, the residents of Adams see Olivia as 'the mother of the murderer', and Olivia experiences vandalism as well as public disapprobation and abuse.



The story is told in the alternating voices of Olivia and Lily, with Olivia's story going forward from 'the day of the incident' and Lily's story proceeding backward from 'the day of the incident.' This might seem confusing but it works well. We experience Olivia's angst and trepidation for her son.....



.....and relive Lily's experiences at Adams High School and her memories of a fraught childhood.



We also learn everyone's secrets, and one of these forms the heart of the novel.

The story is interspersed with scenes of Olivia tending her beehives, which provides a fascinating peek into this line of work. It's fun to learn that Olivia names all her queen bees after female divas: Adele, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Whitney, Mariah, Taylor, Britney, Miley, Aretha, Ariana, Sia, Dionne, Cher, and Katy.



My major cavil is that the novel is repetitive and overlong. Nevertheless, the story addresses current topics of interest with sensitivity and is well worth reading.

Rating: 3.5 stars