In a romantic adventure that travels the globe, The Enlightenment of Bees beautifully explores what it means to find the sweet spot in life where our greatest passions meet the world’s greatest need. Sometimes a shattered heart leads to an amazing journey. At twenty-six, apprentice baker Mia West has her entire life planned out: a Craftsman cottage in Seattle, a job baking at The Butter Emporium, and her first love—her boyfriend, Ethan—by her side. But when Ethan declares he “needs some space,” Mia’s carefully planned future crumbles. Adrift and unsure where her future leads now, Mia joins her vivacious housemate Rosie on a humanitarian trip around the world funded by a reclusive billionaire. Along with a famous grunge rock star, a Rwandan immigrant, and an unsettlingly attractive Hawaiian urban farmer named Kai, Mia and Rosie embark on the adventure of a lifetime. From the slums of Mumbai to a Hungarian border camp during the refugee crisis, Mia’s heart is challenged and changed in astonishing ways—ways she never could have imagined if she hadn’t opened herself up to the opportunity. As she grapples with how to make a difference in a complicated world, Mia’s journey through self-discovery leaves her with the choice between the past she left behind and a new budding dream in her heart. “I combed through the pages with delight. This book is going to cause a real buzz.” —Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author '...fine fine tale of personal transformation. . . readers will delight in Linden's global scope. . . ' -- Publishers Weekly 'Mia has a true connection with the people she is serving, all while learning more about herself. Linden deftly combines excitement, romance, strong character development, and an empowered female.' -- Booklist, STARRED review 'This honey-sweet story reveals the power of staying open to possibilities.' -- BookPage Rachel Linden is a novelist and international aid worker whose adventures in over fifty countries around the world provide excellent grist for her writing. She is the author of Ascension of Larks , Becoming the Talbot Sisters , and The Enlightenment of Bees . Currently Rachel lives with her family in Seattle, Washington, where she enjoys creating stories about hope, courage, and connection with a hint of romance and a touch of whimsy. Visit her online at rachellinden.com; Instagram: rachellinden_writer; Facebook: authorRachellinden. The Enlightenment of Bees By Rachel Linden Thomas Nelson Copyright © 2019 Rachel Linden Rempt All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7852-2140-1 CHAPTER 1 Early April The day my world crumbles I am dreaming about pie crust. Cubes of chilled butter, ice bobbing in a Pyrex measuring cup of water, a mixing bowl straight from the refrigerator, a pastry cutter to slice the butter and flour and salt into baby-pea-sized gobbets. A light touch, light as a feather. And honeybees. Their contented hum is a droning undercurrent to the ting ting of my pastry cutter against the bowl. The air is heavy with the scent of lavender, sharp and pungent from the fields of purple stretching beyond my family's farmhouse kitchen window. One by one bees buzz through the open window and land on the rim of my bowl. I shoo them away. They are fat and slow as they fly off, legs laden with orange saddlebags of pollen, buzzing across the fields and over the silver waters of Puget Sound. On the lip of the bowl where they rested, each leaves a dot of honey that trickles down the glass in a slow golden rivulet. When my ringing cell phone wakes me, I burrow out from under my duvet with a muff led exclamation and a shiver, scrambling to silence the cheery tune. My room feels like an icebox. I'd fallen asleep reading with the window open, and the wet April air wafts under the curtain, sharp and salty from the sea. "H'llo," I stage-whisper, not wanting to rouse my housemate, Rosie, who I'm guessing is still asleep across the hall after her late-night performance in a jazz club on Capitol Hill. "Good morning, Mia. Kate here." The activities director at Sunny Days Retirement Community where my Nana Alice lives. "Good morning, Kate." I try to match her chipper tone, covering my confusion and erasing the sleep from my voice. I open and close my eyes like an owl; the insides of my eyelids feel like sandpaper. Splayed on the floor near my feet is Mary Berry's Baking Bible. "Just checking to see if you're bringing baked goods for the residents today as usual?" Kate says in a perky voice. "Oh sure." I glance at the clock and startle. Ten forty! I was up at four a.m. for my four-hour baking shift at the Butter Emporium, an artisan bakery and coffee shop in historic Ballard where I'm an apprentice baker. On Sundays I deliver our day-old baked goods to Sunny Days. "Be there in a jiffy." I hang up, already throwing on a plaid flannel shirt over my fitted tee. I rub a smudge of flour off the elbow and twist my hair up into a messy bun. Olga, the Ukrai