6Helen Jukes is entering her thirties and feeling disconnected and trapped by her office job, when the book opens. She is struggling to settle into a new life in her recently purchased house in Oxford with its own small yard. As she ponders her new neighborhood and the many possibilities of a garden, she is brought back to a time in London when she accompanied a friend -- a beekeeper -- on his hive visits. And then, for good luck, she is given a colony of honeybees. According to folklore, a colony, freely given, brings good fortune, and the author embarks on an emotional, rewarding journey during the course of a year as she cares for these wondrous beings and learns the art of beekeeping.