Mad Honey

Chapter 1

Olivia 1

December 7, 2018

The day of

From the moment I knew I was having a baby, I wanted it to be a girl. I wandered the aisles of department stores, touching doll-size dresses and tiny sequined shoes. I pictured us with matching nail polish me, who d never had a manicure in my life. I imagined the day her fairy hair was long enough to capture in pigtails, her nose pressed to the glass of a school bus window; I saw her first crush, prom dress, heartbreak. Each vision was a bead on a rosary of future memories; I prayed daily.

As it turned out, I was not a zealot . . . only a martyr.

When I gave birth, and the doctor announced the baby s sex, I did not believe it at first. I had done such a stellar job of convincing myself of what I wanted that I completely forgot what I needed. But when I held Asher, slippery as a minnow, I was relieved.

Better to have a boy, who would never be someone s victim.

Most people in Adams, New Hampshire, know me by name, and those who don t, know to steer clear of my home. It s often that way for beekeepers like firefighters, we willingly put ourselves into situations that are the stuff of others nightmares. Honeybees are far less vindictive than their yellow jacket cousins, but people can t often tell the difference, so anything that stings and buzzes comes to be seen as a potential hazard. A few hundred yards past the antique Cape, my colonies form a semicircular rainbow of hives, and most of the spring and summer the bees zip between them and the acres of blossoms they pollinate, humming a warning.

I grew up on a small farm that had been in my father s family for generations: an apple orchard that, in the fall, sold cider and donuts made by my mother and, in the summer, had pick-your-own strawberry fields. We were land-rich and cash-poor. My father was an apiarist by hobby, as was his father before him, and so on, all the way back to the first McAfee who was an original settler of Adams. It

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight novels, including Wish You Were Here, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.

Jennifer Finney Boylan is the bestselling author of more than a dozen books. She is the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer-in-Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University and a 2022–2023 Fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. A nationally known advocate for human rights, she is a trustee of PEN America. For many years she was the national co-chair of GLAAD as well as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She lives in New York City and Belgrade Lakes, Maine, with her wife, Deedie. They have a son, Sean, and a daughter, Zai.

Praise for Mad Honey

Alternatingly heart-pounding and heartbreaking . . .This collaboration between two best-selling authors seamlessly weaves together Olivia and Lily s journeys, creating a provocative exploration of the strength that love and acceptance require. The Washington Post

Gripping . . . This timely and absorbing read will make readers glad these two powerful writers decided to collaborate. Booklist (starred review)

Compelling . . . A well-paced story that highlights several timely issues, with a stimulating courtroom trial that makes it worth reading. Kirkus Reviews

A spellbinding yarn . . . atmospheric . . . riveting . . . Overall, it s a fruitful collaboration. Publishers Weekly



Praise for Jodi Picoult

Picoult is a skilled wordsmith, and she beautifully creates situations that not only provoke the mind but touch the flawed souls in all of us. The Boston Globe

Jodi Picoult is that rare, one-in-a-million writer whose books both squeeze your heart and expand your mind. Emily Henry

Praise for Jennifer Finney Boylan

Jennifer Finney Boylan is an exquisite writer. Augusten Burroughs

One could not ask for a wiser, warmer, more engaging companion than Jennifer Finney Boylan. Mary Roach