Product Description
WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.The story starts there, but the book doesn't.And it's what happens afterward that is most important.Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, February 2009: The publishers of Chris Cleave's new novel "don't want to spoil" the story by revealing too much about it, and there's good reason not to tell too much about the plot's pivot point. All you should know going in to Little Bee is that what happens on the beach is brutal, and that it braids the fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan (who calls herself Little Bee) and a well-off British couple--journalists trying to repair their strained marriage with a free holiday--who should have stayed behind their resort's walls. The tide of that event carries Little Bee back to their world, which she claims she couldn't explain to the girls from her village because they'd have no context for its abundance and calm. But she shows us the infinite rifts in a globalized world, where any distance can be crossed in a day--with the right papers--and "no one likes each other, but everyone likes U2." Where you have to give up the safety you'd assumed as your birthright if you decide to save the girl gazing at you through razor wire, left to the wolves of a failing state. --Mari Malcolm

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 91 reviews)

After the Sting, the Barb Remains by C. P. Jackson (Fairfax)

5 Stars
November 09, 2009
Starting with the skinny summary on the flyleaf and continuing into the narrative, `Little Bee' reads like a fable. Like a dark fairy tale it's told from two, first-person points of view. Because the author entreats the reader to refrain from divulging what happens to Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee and Sarah, a British magazine editor, it's not easy to write a review that sufficiently explains the five-star rating that the novel deserves. Without letting slip any spoilers, I will say that the reader is never certain that any one of the richly drawn characters will live happily ever after. Cleve unfolds the story subtly by alternating the narrative between Little Bee and Sarah, two people who could not be more different by every measure. Through them, and the supporting characters, the writer describes the spectrum of human emotions and forces the reader to really feel them. By the time it's understood what has brought them together, and will bind them forever, there is such real sorrow that you will not close this book without weeping. Each character contributes to the story; there are no superfluous roles here. This story is bigger than the personal impact of a single event on a few people. It forces the reader to examine his or her own views of social justice. We may do nothing other than think about it; yet, we will not easily forget this piece of fiction that is very real for far too many.

Amazing by Lit Chick (Naperville, Il)

5 Stars
October 13, 2009
Just simply stunning! Beautifully written in two voices. Amazing and horrible at the same time, like watching a train wreck! Couldn't put it down.

Just read it by Young

5 Stars
September 13, 2009
It has been a long while since a novel kept me up late into the early hours of morning, and as soon as I turned the final page (which I read over several times) I immediately wanted to email the author to say "Bravo." The writing is compelling and wry, and the characters are beautifully rendered. I understand how some would criticize the story itself as somewhat contrived, but it is an important, relevant story and one knows the grim parts of the narrative are less horrific than what is happening right now all over the globe. It didn't feel contrived to me, as one knows such detention centers exist, one knows that brutalized refugees materialize in western countries and are sent back to certain imprisonment, torture, and death, and as one knows how very lucky we readers are to be taking it all in from the distance of print and TV news. This book broke my heart, and I'm so glad I read it.

Bittersweet by Emily Braun (Long Island)

4 Stars
August 25, 2009
This is the story of Little Bee. She is a 16 year old Nigerian girl released after 2 years in a detention center in England. The only people she knows in England is a tourist couple she met on the beach 2 years ago. She shows up on the day of the mans funeral and becomes entwined in the lives of the widow and his child. This was a lovely but bittersweet story and some of the scenes are rough. I gave only 4 stars because I would have ended it differently but it was enjoyable to read and I liked the characters.

The UK Also Has an Immigration Problem by Marilyn Cobert (Knoxville, TN United States)

4 Stars
August 09, 2009
In his novel, "Little Bee," Chris Cleave has looked at the dark side of Britain's policy toward asylum seekers. Little Bee, a 16-year-old stowaway fleeing death in her native Nigeria, is sent on arrival in England to an "Immigration Removal Centre" where she languishes for two years. Released suddenly without papers, she seeks out the only people she knows in England. Her attempt to avoid officialdom at all costs provides the tension in the novel. The book is neither grim nor light-hearted. It makes us care for Little Bee but gives us little hope for an eventual happy ending. While the UK probably has more than enough citizens, the official refusal to consider the plight of one small refugee from horror is not its finest hour. Cleave tells only one side of the immigration story, but it is a powerful one. Little Bee and her British friends are well-developed characters, and their lives are well-rounded. This is a book to ponder and enjoy despite its darker side.

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