Bienes Historie is a 2015 book written by Norwegian novelist Maja Lunde, notable for being her first adult story after a series of successful children's novels. It was retitled The History of Bees and translated into English in 2017 by Diane Oatley.
The book follows three time periods, exploring the study, domestication and decline of the humble honeybee. In 1851 England, the disillusioned biologist William struggles to provide for his large family and retain his passion for the study of nature. He focuses on the creation of a new type of beehive that will, hopefully, not only provide for his family but ensure his legacy. In 2007 Ohio, USA, the commercial bee-keeper George is struggling to maintain his business, keep his marriage on track, and reconnect with the son he's hoping will keep up the family business. Finally, in 2098 China, Tao is painfully pollinating fruit trees by hand in a world without bees; her mundane world is soon thrown into disarray when her only son is taken away after an accident.
The History of Bees provides examples of the following tropes:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: 2098 seems like a fair way off into the future but due to society issues technology has stagnated meaning everything is very recognizable for a modern audience. The complete extinction of Bees occurs in 2045.
- 20 Minutes into the Past: The "modern-day" storyline takes place in 2007, back when Colony collapse Disorder started to be more widely noticed by the media.
- Artistic License – Biology: Naturally a few liberties are taken with the future of the world without bees. Notably, there is no grass, although grasses aren't pollinated by insects, which is partly used as justification for the lack of animals when something like a population of rabbits would be easy to maintain as a good protein source.
- Awful Wedded Life: William and Thilda's marriage, despite having seven daughters and one son, has become a loveless one where William resents Thilda's lack of intellect and the fact his family has held him back from more scientific studies.
- Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: George's attempts to reconnect to his son and garner interest in the family business, while using him as free labour, are strained to say the least.
- Bears Are Bad News: Downplayed. Bears scared five-year-old Tom, creating long-lasting friction between him and his father, during a camping trip. Years later, bears break through electric fences and destroy three beehives: creating financial and emotional distress.
- Bittersweet Ending: William's hive design fails to become standard, but it led to his descendants becoming a legacy of beekeepers. In the future, Wei-Wen is dead, but he's become a symbol of hope now that the bees have returned.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: Young William was caught, um, enjoying nature while watching ants. His father is less than impressed, shames him, and beats him with a belt.
- China Takes Over the World: China became the world leader in human pollination because it had such bad pollution it killed off all-natural pollinators before the rest of the world. Coupled with a communist history the leaders of the country had the power to re-assign people and quickly change their society to the new way of life.
- Cynical Mentor: Professor Rahm is very critical of William's life choices (such as having a family). When William designs his new improved beehive, he excitedly invites him to see it; while explaining in great detail all the fantastic new designs he invented which will revolutionize bee study and beekeeping in general. Rahm, almost laughing in his face, basically says that everything he has done is nothing new, but it's nice that he has a "hobby".
- Don't Go in the Woods: Mysterious woods in the future at the end of the fruit orchards where the workers rarely venture. Wei-Wen's brief venture into them ends in tragedy.
- Extinct in the Future: Obviously bees, but the knock of effects of the loss of these pollinators (coupled with climate change and over-exploitation of humans) collapsed whole ecosystems, to the point that in 2098, it's rare to see any insects at all.
- Family Business: George's bee farming has been the family business since they first got off the boat in America, using the same tried and tested beehive for generations. He hopes that his son will carry on and expand the business.
- The Famine: The future section shows a bleak look at a world without bees/pollinating-insects. This means a world without most fruits, cereals, and vegetables. Obviously, with reduced plant matter (bees pollinating common silage crops like hay), the husbandry of animals becomes more expensive and impractical, removing dairy and meat from the shop-shelves as well. The world of 2098 is one of an extended famine that has destroyed most of society as we know it.
- Generational Saga: The book follows the Savage family's linage and impact on the world, from a would-be hive inventor briefly going over his daughter and grandson's immigration to American, to the modern day, when they're struggling to grow the business.
- Ghost City: Beijing, for the most part. Most of the inhabitants were reassigned leaving only a few key workers to keep basic functionality intact. Large sections of Beijing have been abandoned by the government. We see one of the few remaining hospitals in the process of being abandoned because they didn't have enough staff and supplies simply weren't being sent to that section of the city anymore.
- In the Future, We Still Have Roombas: Briefly spotted in a building owned by The Committee. However, this is to show the disconnect between the ruling party which has lots of automated systems and the world in general that has reverted back to intensive manual labour.
- Like Father, Unlike Son:
- George and Tom are the complete opposite of each other. George is a simple hard-working commercial beekeeper, attempting to create a long-lasting business for his son to inherit, while Tom is a book-smart college student with dreams of becoming a writer and leaving his old life behind him.
- Likewise, William is a smart, inquisitive entomologist who spent his early years diligently studying insects, completely lost in the exploration of knowledge. His son Edmund, however, is a self-indulgent slouch with no drive for work or the pursuit for knowledge.
- Lost Common Knowledge: After the collapse, the internet disappeared leaving humanity with only physical media for knowledge. Further enforced as children aren't taught much past basic reading, writing and maths finishing their education at the ripe old age of eight. It's even stated that children in "schools" spend most of their time sewing and knitting fabrics as their small nimble hands are perfect for the work.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Tom who leaves the farm to go off to college, beats 38 other applicants to get a summer job as a journalist.
- Murder by Inaction: Tao finds an elderly woman wandering around a hospital in a soiled diaper clinging to an intravenous pole with an empty bag rigged up to her arm. She leads her to an abandoned ward full of elderly people, some beg her to help, others are dead or dying. Tao attempts to get help from the last remaining staff but they've already decided to abandon them all, leaving them to die of dehydration, starvation or lack of medical care. Ultimately Tao follows suit, unable to realistically help them, and continues her search for her son.
- Post-Stress Overeating: William after the first Hive having failed to impress is noted as eating many greasy pies and being very upset over this. He is said to be very gaunt when compared to his younger self pre-melancholy, so perhaps over-eating was always a way he used to cope with stress.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Colony Collapse Disorder is a real thing, between 2007-2013 more than 10 million bee colonies across the world were lost. Thankfully things have seemingly stabilized but CCD still isn't widely understood and is still very much a concern.
- Sleepy Depressive: When we first meet William, he's in this state because his business is no longer making money and his large family is reduced to gruel. The family attempt to spur him into action but the only thing that does is his son reminding him to "find his passion" while handing him a book about bees. His depression comes back many times throughout the book as he attempts to find new meaning in life.
- Stock Beehive: Designing a replacement for the classic straw man-made beehive is a plot-point.
- The Famine: A world without bees/pollinating-insects means a world without most fruits, cereals and vegetables. Obviously, with reduced plant matter (bees pollinating common silage crops like hay) the husbandry of animals becomes more expensive and impractical, removing dairy and meat from the shop-shelves as well. The world of 2098 is one of an extended famine that has destroyed most of society as we know it.
- Too Hungry to Be Polite: When Tao offers the waiter at the restaurant her leftovers, he's confused and unsure about taking it. After she insists, he shovels the simple rice dish into his mouth, forgetting to chew. He regains composure by the end of the meal, aware that he's being watched by Tao.
- Virtuous Bees: Bees are idolized throughout the book and their important role in nature is very much the focus on the future aspect of the story.
