Category: Fiction

Copyright/published Year: 2001 by Anchor Books

ISBN: 0385498802

Binding: trade pap

Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine-year-old, expects ì never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, ì absorbed in his study of Jewish mysticism; her brother, Aaron, ì the vessel of his father's spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant ì but distant lawyer-mom, Miriam. But when Eliza sweeps her school ì and district spelling bees in quick succession, Saul takes it as ì a sign that she is destined for greatness. In this altered ì reality, Saul inducts her into his hallowed study and lavishes ì upon her the attention previously reserved for Aaron, who in his ì displacement embarks upon a lone quest for spiritual fulfillment. ì When Miriam's secret life triggers a familial explosion, it is ì Eliza who must order the chaos.

Myla Goldberg's keen eye for detail brings Eliza's journey to ì three-dimensional life. As she rises from classroom obscurity to ì the blinding lights and outsized expectations of the National ì Bee, Eliza's small pains and large joys are finely wrought and ì deeply felt.

Not merely a coming-of-age story, Goldberg's first novel ì delicately examines the unraveling fabric of one family. The ì outcome of this tale is as startling and unconventional as her ì prose, which wields its metaphors sharply and rings with ì maturity. The work of a lyrical and gifted storyteller, Bee ì Season marks the arrival of an extraordinarily talented new ì writer.

This book is new.