Power of the written word means it’s not all Zoom & gloom

KNOWING my techy limits, I was rather apprehensive about the village book club’s Zoom sessions.

But after two goes at it, I felt happier about virtually meeting across hundreds of square miles, with glasses clinking over the laptop. It’s the routine that helps – the same faces, the same inferior red plonk, the same arguments about the merits of the latest choice.

Familiarity breeds confidence. So here we go into cyberspace again with Angela’s choice of book, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, the number one international bestseller by Christy Lefteri.

It’s the harrowing story of a man and wife, Nuri and Afra, who flee war-torn Syria to make a new home in Britain.

A fellow bee-keeping refugee lives in Marsden, West Yorkshire, where he runs a charity called Buzz Project. The story covers the utter horror of military terror in Aleppo, and the frightening ordeal of being trafficked via Istanbul. One group member couldn’t take the violence against children, and gave up.

Plenty to talk about but, of course, something always goes wrong. I call it a Mid-Zoomer Murder – although I suspect Inspector Barnaby and his dumb sidekick would have trouble sorting it out.

This time it was the link. It should have been in blue, but it was black, and did nothing when I clicked on it. Former TV executive Stephen came to the rescue. Galling, how he always knows how to dig me out of the Zoom s***.

Fast forward to the readers’ question: “Can reading a novel about the experience of refugees offer a different perspective or have a different emotional impact to that of the media and the news bulletins?”

My answer is a resounding “yes”. The detail is relentless and powerful. Reading has increased dramatically in lockdown, which is a positive, and this book is a must.