The Beekeeper of Aleppo

1. What kind of life did Nuri and Afra have as a family in Aleppo. Can you imagine having your life destroyed in front of your eyes and being forced to leave it all behind as Nuri and Afra did?

2. Talk about the hardships of the couple's journey across Europe, on their way to Great Britain. Discuss the hatred and prejudice they endured, as well as physical dangers. What horrified you most in that journey?

3. The trauma of their journey has left both Nuri and Afra deeply scarred. Talk about the way it has opened a seemingly unbridgeable gulf between the couple. Nuri is our narrator and thinks of Afra as "locked in." What in Afra's behavior leads to Nuri's assessment?

4. (Follow-up to Question XX) How is Nuri affected? He believes he no longer worthy of her or her forgiveness. Why does believe that?

5. Can you imagine what life would be like for this couple and the millions of others, who are waiting in limbo, neither able to move forward with their lives nor return the life behind them. Talk about what the limbo and dislocation would feel like. How well do you think Christy Lefteri has captured those feelings and experiences? Has reading the Beekeeper of Aleppo, led you to a different understanding, a deeper empathy perhaps, regarding refugees? Or is the problem so vast, so painful, that it remains almost impossible, as a single individual, to grasp?

6. Does this book offer hope?