The Bee Sting cover art

The Bee Sting

Comedy meets tragedy in this hilarious Booker Prize shortlisted novel

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Bee Sting

By: Paul Murray
Narrated by: Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, Ciaran O'Brien, Lisa Caruccio Came
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.24

Buy Now for £15.24

THE MULTI AWARD-WINNING NOVEL FROM ONE OF OUR GREATEST LIVING COMEDIC WRITERS


The Barnes family are in trouble.

Until recently they ran the biggest business in town, now they’re teetering on the brink of bankruptcy – and that’s just the start of their problems. Dickie and Imelda’s marriage is hanging by a thread; straight-A student Cass is careening off the rails; PJ is hopelessly in debt to the school bully.
Meanwhile the ghosts of old mistakes are rising out of the past to meet them, but everyone’s too wrapped up in the present to see the danger looming . . .


'A tragicomic triumph. You won't read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year' Guardian

'Generous, immersive, sharp-witted and devastating; the sort of novel that becomes a friend for life' Financial Times

‘Paul Murray [is] the undisputed reigning champion of epic Irish tragicomedy’ Spectator


©2023 Paul Murray (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Small Town & Rural Funny Comedy
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

It can't be overstated how purely pleasurable The Bee Sting is to read. Murray's brilliant new novel, about a rural Irish clan, posits the author as Dublin's answer to Jonathan Franzen . . . A 650-page slab of compulsive high-grade entertainment, The Bee Sting oozes pathos while being very funny to boot . . . Murray's observational gifts and A-game phrase-making render almost every page - every line, it sometimes seems - abuzz with fresh and funny insights . . . At its core this is a novel concerned with the ties that bind, secrets and lies, love and loss. They're all here, brought to life with captivating vigour in a first-class performance to cherish
The Bee Sting is the finest novel that Murray has yet written and will surely be one of the books of 2023 . . . It bears comparison to the brilliant comic writer Jonathan Coe... But Murray is his own writer, capable of keeping a multi-faceted and compulsive plot moving along with alacrity and confidence, while seamlessly blending drama, comedy and heartbreak... For 13 years, Paul Murray has been best known as the author of Skippy Dies. That, I suspect, is about to change
Immersive, brilliantly structured, beautifully written, so dense yet so compelling, [and] as laugh-out-loud funny as it is deeply disturbing . . . The Bee Sting is as ambitious as anything that has gone before, but with a focus and shape that grants it great depth as well as breadth. Seriously, all you need is this, your suntan lotion and a few days off work and you're good to go . . . I didn't see the plot twists coming. And they keep on coming, And coming again . . . I began with an ovation. I'll end abruptly, and in awe... Paul Murray, the undisputed reigning champion of epic Irish tragicomedy, has done it again
The most enjoyable new novel I came across this year. A sprawling, Franzen-esque saga about the Barnes family in Ireland recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, it’s an amazing piece of realist fiction, full-bodied, multi-narrative; a huge swing by Murray (Bret Easton Ellis)
A triumph. The Bee Sting deserves all the praise I am heaping on it. It is generous, immersive, sharp-witted and devastating; the sort of novel that becomes a friend for life
All stars
Most relevant
There are a crazy amount of reviews here that focus so heavily on the perceived failure of the books ending that it’s almost to ignore the 24 hours of brilliance leading up to it!!
In my opinion the ending is poignant and simply leaves room for interpretation but it seems that most people seem to demand everything be tied up and nailed down to feel satisfied.

In my experience life is more like this ending

Less is always more

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
One of my books of the year - sprawling, vivid, laugh out loud funny, heart-breaking.

Superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Captivating novel and voice performances to match - PJ’s narrator deserves special praise. And for those who are on the hunt for clues, don’t forget Aunt Rose’s supposed confusion concerning Dickie’s identity when Imelda first calls to see her at the old folks’ home.

There are no red squirrels

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
And I think the ending is brilliant too, whatever other reviews might suggest. One of the best books I have had in years, and the different voices in the audible narration made it a better experience than if I’d read it in print. Wonderful,

Absolutely brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved the different perspectives within the story. All characters’ inner voices very credible and believable with their own unique versions of the truth. Fantastic crescendo towards the truth!

Family drama from various perspectives.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews