When “Home” Is Complicated: A Reflection From the Book “Remember the Bees”

Essay author Chloe Galasi with her husband Kong (submitted)

When does one relent to difficult circumstances and leave their beloved homeland? 

Currently, I’m watching my husband Kong as he is pulled between two countries. He came to the United States from Thailand in 2014, looking for higher pay and better public infrastructure. For most of his time in the U.S., he intended to obtain dual citizenship. He’s closer to citizenship now more than ever, with our marriage and two green cards under his belt, but he’s having second thoughts. 

Despite Thailand’s problems, Kong misses his culture, his food, and his family. Despite higher salaries, the cost of living in the US keeps rising along with political tension, especially regarding immigrants. On our walks by the Mississippi River, we often discuss whether he’d be happier in a life close to Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River. There’s no simple answer. He’ll leave something behind either way.

Moroccan author Zineb Mekouar explores this relationship with homeland in her novel Remember the Bees, newly translated from French to English by Maren Baudet-Lackner. The novel takes place in Inzerki, a real rural Moroccan village that is home to the world’s largest apiary — a collection of managed beehives.

Inzerkians inherit beehives as heirlooms, passing down traditional beekeeping knowledge through generations. These hives are stacked in thousands of rectangular cubbies made of mud, wood, and reeds, resembling an ancient office building with tens of thousands of bees clocking in daily to make honey. 

In reality, Morocco recently saw the end of a seven year-long drought. In the novel, many families have been forced to leave Inzerki for better opportunities in the city. Inzerki and its ancient apiary are growing silent. Omar, the father, leaves to find work in the city, where he struggles. Jeddi, the grandfather, refuses to leave Inzerki, insisting on maintaining his hives and passing down knowledge to his 10-year-old grandson Anir.

One somber, desperate night, Aisha, the mother, makes a choice that alters the lives of her family. After that, she spends most of her time sleeping in her bedroom and hums more than she speaks. Her only time outside is under moonlight, sneaking out to the apiary with her son Anir.

Aisha’s mental health keeps her near mute and housebound. Anir has an unknown future amidst familial struggles and the drought that threatens Inzerki. When the pair wake before dawn to beekeep, however, they are “comforted by nature’s indifference” — a donkey eating hay, bees crawling across honeycombs. They find solace that nature moves about its business without a care for the family’s complicated lives.

Personal Reflection

It was a difficult winter in 2023 for Kong and I. Minnesota’s frozen gray dragged us into depression. Our plans to visit Kong’s family in Thailand were thwarted by visa issues. My husband was especially crushed. “I feel like I’ll never be happy again,” he said.

If we couldn’t go to Thailand, we decided we could at least escape the gray to find greenery. I googled ‘Hawaii’s greenest island’ and booked a flight to the answer: Kauai. 

We stepped off the plane, greeted by humid air carrying the scent of plumeria. Trees cocooned the two-lane highway as we drove, surrounded by lush rainforest mountains. Kong still talks about the evening we ate fresh fish and fruit on the ocean shore.

“This feels like Thailand,” he said. “I want to go home.”

Where to live is not a simple question. Everyone has to make difficult decisions in prioritizing certain aspects over others: a beautiful view or cost, safety or family, economic stability or culture.

No one can tell my husband whether living in Thailand or the U.S. is a better choice, just as no one can tell the family in Remember the Bees whether to stay in Inzerki or to try life in the city. 

While wrestling with life’s unanswerable questions, we can at least find respite in nature: taking a walk, admiring a flower, or watching waves roll. Nature reminds us that life goes on, no matter what decisions we make.

Decisions aren’t always as simple as making a choice between good and bad. We have to choose between what is most important to us in a time and face the results as they come.

Remember the Bees will be released November 11, 2026 by Milkweed Editions.

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