Kirkus Reviews – Write on the World

Valley of the Bees is the book that taught me I could actually finish a novel—or at least something very close to one. I wrote it right after finishing my creative writing graduate program, at a moment when I had plenty of ideas, plenty of ambition, and absolutely no completed long-form fiction to show for it.

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Up to that point, I considered myself a pantser. I wrote by instinct, followed my curiosity, and trusted the story to reveal itself as I went along. The problem was that nothing ever made it to the end. Clearly, my preferred method wasn’t getting me where I wanted to go.

So, I set myself a challenge.

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Great news! The Kirkus Review for Valley of the Bees is in, and it is pretty good!

Here are a few high points of the review:

Webster has written a richly detailed work whose world feels legitimate and lived-in, letting readers gradually, seamlessly experience it, rather than overwhelming them with exposition. Meanwhile, Valley is an empathetic, compassionate protagonist who feels three-dimensional from start to finish. Her caring for the bees establishes an instant connection with the reader. The complications of her friendship with another teenager, Reyna, who has fallen in love with her, as well as the intricate bonds that tie her to her family make for an engrossing drama. Furthermore, her relationship with her grandmother, as well as the unfolding of a number of buried family secrets that cause her to question a great deal of what she thought she knew, provides a brilliant through line.

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