Publisher, Tantor Media (April 2009)

NOTE: RETAIL EDITIONS are packaged in attractive, compact cardboard or jewel-case shrink-wrapped boxes, with full-color art.

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Little Bee Makes Oprah's 10 Terrific Reads for 2009!

"Book clubs in search of the next Kite Runner need look no further than this astonishing, flawless novel." ---Library Journal Starred Review

"Cleave is a nerves-of-steel storyteller of stealthy power, and this is a novel as resplendent and menacing as life itself." ---Booklist Starred Review

"Urgent and wryly funny" ---O Magazine

"[This book] will amaze and delight you, and break your heart." ---ShelfAwareness.com

"[Cleave] has a sharp cinematic eye, and humanizes disturbing issues around refugees and the situation in Africa." ---Publishers Weekly

"A psychologically charged story of grief, globalization and an unlikely friendship." ---Kirkus

"The voice Cleave has created for [Little Bee] illustrates the forcible dislocations of a globalized world." ---The Washington Post

"A loud shout of talent." ---Chicago Sun-Times

"Vividly memorable and provocative." ---The Boston Globe

"An affecting story of human triumph." ---The New York Times

"Artfully told and lyrically performed, this audiobook resonates." ---AudioFile

"A poignant performance [by] Audie Award nominee Anne Flosnik.... this title will give book club members plenty to mull over." ---Library Journal Starred Audio Review

From the author of the international bestseller Incendiary comes a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers---one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London.

British couple Andrew and Sarah O'Rourke, vacationing on a Nigerian beach in a last-ditch effort to save their faltering marriage, come across Little Bee and her sister, Nigerian refugees fleeing from machete-wielding soldiers intent on clearing the beach. The horrific confrontation that follows changes the lives of everyone involved in unimaginable ways.

Two years later, Little Bee appears in London on the day of Andrew's funeral and reconnects with Sarah. Sarah is struggling to come to terms with her husband's recent suicide and the stubborn behavior of her four-year-old son, who is convinced that he really is Batman. The tenuous friendship between Sarah and Little Bee that grows, is challenged, and ultimately endures is the heart of this emotional, tense, and often hilarious novel.

Considered by some to be the next Kite Runner, Little Bee is an achingly human story set against the inhuman realities of war-torn Africa. Wrenching tests of friendship and terrible moral dilemmas fuel this irresistible novel.

About the Author: Chris Cleave is a columnist for the Guardian newspaper in London. His first novel, Incendiary, was published in twenty countries, won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Award, and won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

About the Performer: Anne Flosnik is an accomplished actress with lead credits on stage, television, commercials, and voice-overs. As a seasoned narrator, she has over 250 audiobook titles to her credit. Anne has several awards and distinctions, including an American Libraries Association Special Services to Children Award, an AudioFile Earphones Award, and a USA Today Recommended Listen. In addition, she is a two-time Audie Award finalist.