The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage, and a Girl Saved by Bees (2019) is a memoir by American journalist and author Meredith May. The memoir describes her tumultuous childhood in Big Sur, California, and the lessons that she learned about life and beekeeping from her beloved grandfather. Major themes in the memoir include The Lasting Effects of Trauma, The Interconnectedness of Plant, Animal, and Human Lives, and The Importance of Family Support. Throughout this summary, the name “May” refers to the author of The Honey Bus, while “Meredith” refers to the narrator in order to distinguish between the adult author reflecting on her life and the young girl she used to be.

This guide is based on the 2019 Park Row print edition.

Content Warning: This novel discusses abuse and depression.

Summary

Meredith May is five years old in 1975 when her family is split up. Her mother takes Meredith and her younger brother Matthew away from their father in Rhode Island to stay with her grandparents in California. On arrival in California, Meredith feels as if her mother has given up on being a parent.

Meredith adjusts to life in California. Granny is strict and the leader of the household; Grandpa is a quiet but adventurous outdoorsman. Meredith’s mother spends months in bed, and Meredith realizes that their “vacation” is permanent. Meredith is drawn to the old army bus where Grandpa processes honey. A few months later, Meredith has her first hands-on experience with bees when Grandpa convinces her not to kill a bee in the house. After allowing the bee to walk on her arm, Meredith and Grandpa spend time watching the hives and observing the bees’ patterns of life.

In the summer of 1975, Meredith’s father, David, appears suddenly in California. Meredith’s hopes that her father has come to take them home are soon dashed: After delivering the family’s car, he quickly leaves again. Hurt by her father’s abandonment and her mother’s depression, Meredith feels drawn to the bees. Soon after, she visits Grandpa’s honey farm in Big Sur for the first time. As she watches him tend to the hives, Meredith learns about the importance of queen bees. She considers the possibility of replacing a mother and feels comforted knowing that motherhood is a natural phenomenon.

When Granny registers her for elementary school, Meredith realizes that she is not returning to Rhode Island. Meredith initially struggles to fit in with her new classmates, but a visit from Grandpa during career day lifts her social status significantly. A few months later, Meredith’s mother takes the children to visit her birth father, and Meredith is surprised to learn that Grandpa is actually her step-grandfather. Watching worker bees protect eggs from the rain, she realizes that family is a choice rather than a genetic tie. In the early summer of 1976, Grandpa allows Meredith to help with the honey collecting for the first time. He patiently teaches her how to remove frames from the hive, uncap the beeswax, and operate the spinning machine that removes the honey from the frames. As they talk, Grandpa suggests that Meredith’s mother has always faced depression.

Shortly after turning seven, Meredith receives a letter from her father asking her to visit him and his new wife in Rhode Island. At the end of the trip, he asks if Meredith wants to live with him full time. Meredith is tempted, but she feels that she cannot abandon Matthew and her mother and says no.

In the fall of 1978, when her mother, Sally, asks her to contact spirits through a Ouija board, Meredith begins to question her mother’s mental health. Meanwhile, Grandpa’s hives are hit with foulbrood, a deadly bacterial disease that decimates bee populations. Meredith promises to help him rebuild. Sally takes Meredith and Matthew to a dating event for single parents. When the other kids bully Matthew, Sally explodes in anger at Meredith, and the family is kicked out of the event. Grandpa encourages the kids to stay out of their mother’s way until they can move out. Meredith attends a large middle school in Carmel, where she meets her best friend, Sophia. As Meredith begins to spend more time with Sophia at Sophia’s mother’s salon, she grows more even more embarrassed of Sally.

In 1982, Meredith, Matthew, and Sally move into a rental property next door to Granny and Grandpa’s house. Sally becomes tyrannical, monitoring their use of water and electricity. When Sally turns violent, Matthew moves into a trailer on Grandpa’s property, and Meredith spends most nights in their home. As she enters high school, Meredith grows even more distant from her mother, who is absent for major milestones. With Granny’s help, Meredith is accepted into Mills College in Oakland. Although she’s excited to escape her mother, she regrets leaving Matthew behind. Shortly before leaving for college, Meredith learns that her mother Sally is also a survivor of abuse. Sally’s birth father physically and emotionally abused her from the age of four until Granny divorced him when Sally was 19. Recognizing the cycle of abuse allows Meredith to begin to understand her mother.

The epilogue describes how May returns to beekeeping in the last years of her grandfather’s life. Grandpa’s advice was essential to her project raising urban hives in San Francisco. Shortly after Grandpa died, Granny died, followed by Sally. May feels a responsibility to preserve Grandpa’s lessons and begins teaching beekeeping.