In truth, she does not know why except that all her Mexican American friends do the same. When he does remember her name, he calls her Carolina, drawing out the syllables: 'Caro-leen-a.' Peppering his conversation with Spanish, he asks Carol why she spits on her roots, her Mexican heritage. Serge often calls her Rosa, the name of his late wife. She and Patricia argue over the car while Carol watches over Luis and Serge. Things only get worse when seventeen-year-old Alta (Carol's half-sister) arrives in a new car purchased for her by her father. Although the family has rehearsed all the ways they can make the transition as easy as possible for Serge, the tension between Raul and his father is evident almost from the moment they arrive. Come autumn, Serge will be moved to a nursing home. They are going to fix up the property in preparation for a sale. Serge has dementia and can no longer live there safely.

They are going to stay at grandpa Serge's sheep farm over the summer. With her family (father Raul, mother Patricia, and baby Luis) making the long drive to the New Mexican desert, she has bigger worries on her mind. A bee buzzes around twelve-year-old Carol's head, and she idly shoos it away. Also a classically trained pianist, Eagar resides in Utah with her husband and daughters. However, her grandfather's stories of the magic and history of the land cause her to fall in love with it. Set in contemporary New Mexico, the story follows twelve-year-old Carol as she spends the summer on her grandfather's sheep ranch, helping her family prepare it for sale.

Published in 2016, Hour of the Bees is a young adult magical realism novel by Lindsay Eagar.

Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar