The Hive
A family of women in small-town Missouri tries to save their exterminating business after their husband and father dies and leaves them buried in debt.
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My Review
The Fehler family runs a pest control business in a small town in Missouri. Only one of the four daughters–Maggie–is interested in the business, and her father Robbie dismisses her ideas. Wife and mother Grace is more interested in prepping for the end of the world than the business (a sub-culture I find fascinating). When Robbie suddenly dies, the five women are blindsided by the crushing debt he hid.
This was a fascinating dive into a deeply conservative family, pre-MAGA, shaped by religion, patriarchy, and Fox News, but whose ideologies begin to crumble as their world does. Only one of the daughters–Jules, who leaves for college–actively rejects her family’s politics, but it’s young Kate’s revelations about climate change and Grace’s ingenuity and determination to protect her family that are most striking.
Conservative readers might disagree, but I found Scholes Young’s approach to be respectful and not preachy, despite the obvious leanings of the author. A bit of a slow-mover, but an interesting family story with a political bent.
Publisher’s Description
The Hive is a story of survival, sisters, and secrets. The Fehler family’s four daughters and their newly widowed, doomsday prepper mother struggle to keep their pest control business from bankruptcy during a recession. Set in a racially and politically divided rural Midwestern town during the Obama years, The Hive shows feminism rising from rural roots.
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