The Beekeeper

Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq

by Dunya Mikhail

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org

*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

Pub Date Mar 27 2018 | Archive Date Feb 28 2018

Nonfiction (Adult)

Talking about this book? Use #TheBeekeeper #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!

Description

Since 2014, Daesh (ISIS) has been brutalizing the Yazidi people of northern Iraq: sowing destruction, killing those who won’t convert to Islam, and enslaving young girls and women. The Beekeeper, by the acclaimed poet and journalist Dunya Mikhail, tells the harrowing stories of several women who managed to escape the clutches of Daesh. Mikhail extensively interviews these women—who’ve lost their families and loved ones, who’ve been sexually abused, psychologically tortured, and forced to manufacture chemical weapons—and as their tales unfold, an unlikely hero emerges: a beekeeper, who uses his knowledge of the local terrain, along with a wide network of transporters, helpers, and former cigarette smugglers, to bring these women, one by one, through the war-torn landscapes of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, back into safety. In the face of inhuman suffering, this powerful work of nonfiction offers a counterpoint to Daesh’s genocidal extremism: hope, as ordinary people risk their own lives to save those of others.

Available Editions

EDITION	Other Format
ISBN	9780811226127
PRICE	$16.95 (USD)
PAGES	240

Additional Information

Average rating from 9 members

See all member reviews

Featured Reviews

Cynthia R, Educator

The fact that I read this book in less than six hours demonstrates just how gripping it was, but it was not an easy read. A lot of tears were shed and I often read with my mouth agape. I don't think there is anyway to prepare to read the real-life traumas of a group of people who you can identify with in many ways. I will never understand the spirit in which people can rape, murder, bury alive and virtually rip apart families in the name of any God or religion. And in the end, you realize that if the global community cannot come together to stop these kinds of atrocities then are any of us really, truly ever safe?

Mikhail allowed these women and Abdalla to tell their stories uncensored, raw and with alarming honest. She didn't insert herself selfishly into their narratives and provided a safe space for them to share. And as painful and uncomfortable as it was for me to read it, imagine just how much more painful it was for them. Everyone with an ounce of compassion needs to read this. There is no way anyone can read this and remain unchanged.