The Honey Queen. Cathy Kelly

      The Honey Queen

      Cathy Kelly

       Copyright

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013

      Copyright © Cathy Kelly 2013

      Jacket layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2013

      Jacket illustration © Nicholas Hely Hutchinson

      Jacket lettering © Stephen Raw

      Cathy Kelly asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780007373673

      Ebook Edition © September 2013 ISBN: 9780007510948

      Version: 2017-10-28

       For my family, John, Murray and Dylan.

       For Mum, Lucy, Francis and all my beloved family, and for the dear friends who are always there for me.

       Thank you.

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

       Dedication

Part One

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

       Part Two

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Part Three

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Chapter Twenty-Four

       Six months later

       Extract of The House on Willow Street

       Keep up to date with Cathy

       About the Author

       Also by Cathy Kelly

       About the Publisher

       Part One

      The atmosphere of the bees and the hive is determined entirely by the mood and personality of the queen bee. A calm queen will result in a calm, peaceful and productive hive.

      The Gentle Beekeeper, Iseult Cloud

       Prologue

      Lillie Maguire kept the letter tucked into the inside zipped compartment of her handbag, a battered beige