"Bumblebee Season" Author Event

Join author Eileen Garvin at the Los Alamos Nature Center on Monday May 18th, 6pm for a reading and a discussion of her latest novel Bumblebee Season, a heartwarming new story that returns to the vibrant world of beekeeping in a small Oregon town.

Bumblebee season will be available for purchase at Samizdat Bookstore after April 21st and at the event.

Book Description:
Beekeeper Jake Stevenson should be celebrating. After winning a prestigious culinary award, his fledging honey farm has been inundated with orders. But as he approaches his largest harvest ever, Jake is worried. He can’t seem to hire any helpers, and there’s no way he can do it all by himself no matter how adept he’s become at maneuvering among the beehives in his wheelchair.

Meanwhile Flaco López, a young migrant from Mexico, is lost on Mount Hood—hungry, scared, and alone—when he stumbles upon Jake’s beehives in a high alpine meadow. As Flaco takes refuge on Jake’s farm, they begin to form a tentative friendship. The two soon cross paths with Abigail Plue, a scientist more interested in insects than people, who’s on Mount Hood studying a threatened native bumblebee.

Then a divisive sheriff’s candidate begins to intimidate the local immigrant community and champion plans for a commercial hunting camp that would destroy Mount Hood’s pristine wilderness—the home of Jake’s honeybees and Abigail’s beloved bumblebees. And Jake, Abigail, and Flaco must come together to protect everything they hold dear. Full of warmth, bighearted characters, and a celebration of nature in all its complexity, Bumblebee Season reminds us that human connection might just be the most powerful force there is.

About the Presenter:

Born and raised in eastern Washington, Eileen Garvin lives in Hood River, Oregon.

Her novels, The Music of Bees and Crow Talk, are national bestsellers.

The Music of Bees was named a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, a Good Housekeeping Book club Pick, a People Magazine Best New Book, an IndieNext Pick, a Library Reads Pick, a Christian Science Monitor Pick, a Washington Post Best Summer Reads, and named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by BookRiot, Bookish, Nerd Daily, The Tempest, Midwestness and others.

Crow Talk received wide acclaim was named a top ten title on The Texas Library Association’s 2025 Lariat List. Crow Talk was also the featured title for The Literacy Project’s 2025 fundraising event.

Eileen’s memoir, How to be a Sister, was named an Indie Next by IndieBound and was chosen as a Target Book of the Month and a Kindle Book of the Month. How to be a Sister was recently released in audiobook.

Her essays have appeared with Mom’s Don’t Have Time to Read Books, The Oregonian, PsychologyToday.com, and Creative Non-Fiction Magazine.

Eileen shares her backyard with four chickens, wild birds of all kinds, and about 120,000 honeybees.

Admission: Free!