Bee Club, a novel by M.E.A. McNeil, tells the story of a disparate group attracted to the importance and intrigue of a bunch of insects. They find themselves bound together like kin to these undomesticated creatures – from the curious hobbyists to the entomologists delving into the mysteries of Apis down to the veins in their wings. Some keep bees to eke out a livelihood, like an elderly Finnish woman; some to heal, like the vet from a VA beekeeping program to treat PTSD; some for the spirit, like the woman who extols the beneficial vibrations of a buzzing colony; some for adventure and a few bucks, like the trio of friends that cram into a vintage Airstream to count frames of migratory bees for almond pollination. And then there is the bee-phobic teenager, with nowhere else to go.

There, in the Northern California countryside, the club is a microcosm of the joys and anguish of the wider beekeeping world. The beekeepers confront the reality of a continuing loss of bees. They face pests, pathogens and poor forage – and their own irreconcilable convictions. Whatever the opinions of those who tend their boxes, the bees are independent; they mingle their genes and their problems. The narrative follows, at bee’s-eye level, the lineage of one queen bee with a genetic advantage. Meanwhile, the beekeepers come together for raucous club meetings, county fair contests, a bee beard show, a pathogen-sniffing dog, a bee truck spill, a battle against regulation that would shut them all down, the annual Bee Ball and an event that brings an unexpected resolution. Here is an engrossing, witty and accurately-detailed story, as much about bees as their hovering people