HOOD RIVER — Local Eileen Garvin released her third novel, “Bumblebee Season,” this April. Set in a fictionalized Hood River, it’s “a heartwarming new story that returns to the vibrant world of beekeeping in a small Oregon town,” according to the book summary. “It’s not a sequel, but it’s a follow up to [my first novel,] ‘The Music of Bees,’” she said.
“Bumblebee Season” follows Jake Stevenson, a beekeeper struggling to hire helpers for his largest harvest yet while maneuvering in his wheelchair; Flaco López, a lost Mexican teen trying to find his way to his cousin; and Abigail Plue, an entomology graduate student on Mount Hood studying a threatened native bumblebee.
"Bumblebee Season" the new novel by local author Eileen Garvin can be found at Waucoma bookstore.
Contributed photo
“It’s happened twice now, with ‘The Music of Bees’ and ‘Bumblebee Season’ that I’m writing about something that feels possible but hasn’t happened yet, and then in between the writing of it and the publication it happens.” Though she was writing in 2019, “Bumblebee Season” reflects on immigration, contested sheriff races, and climate concerns, all of which are in the present conversation today. “It makes me a little bit sad that things are worse than they were when I was drawing on history to write fiction,” Garvin said.
“I don’t have an agenda when I go into a books, it’s an organic unfolding. After that’s done, I stand back and look at it and think what does this have to offer people?” said Garvin.
“All of my books seem to be about the search for home and belonging, and I think that’s just such a universal desire and I hope that resonated with people.”
Her books can be found at Waucoma in Hood River and Klindt's in The Dalles. Garvin also welcomes invitations to visit book clubs which can be organized through her website www.eileengarvin.com.
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