We are excited to announce the publishing of The Secrets of Hope the Honey Bee, a beautifully illustrated children’s book available from Amazon Books in both print copy soft cover and Kindle.
World Bee Day, 20 May, is the day we celebrate our honey bees and the key role they play in our world. To observe this day, this year, we have supported the launch of this children’s book about honey bees that through this literature come to life for the younger generation, teaching and enchanting.
Written by Dr Gerry Brierley, The Secrets of Hope the Honey Bee is a tale that takes us on a journey through the world of the honey bee colony, with wonderful characters from Eve the Egg and Pippa the Pupae, to Luna the Larva; with gorgeous Clarabelle the Cleaner Bee, Nancy the Nurse Bee and Bluebell the Beeswax Bee, just some of the characters who describe the changing roles of the worker bees. Illustrated in exquisite detail, meet too the different forager bee characters and the roles they play in a healthy happy hive, with Duke the King Drone proud, while we bask in the majesty of Queenie the Queen Bee as she rules supreme.
An educational, uplifting and fun children’s book, featuring 30 bee characters and 30 beautiful large colour illustrations that no home should be without. Not only will your children and grand children delight at every page, they will too learn about the diverse honey bee colony structure, the roles and responsibilities, and just how important each role is with its perfect timing and precision.
“Dr Gerry Brierley has excelled in bringing to life the tale of the honey bee world in this wonderful book. As our children are the future keepers of our bees, imparting a sense of reverence for these wonderful creatures is essential in developing their consciousness to forever hold honey bees safe, and to be mindful always, of the essential role they play in our survival and that of Mother Earth.” Founder of The Bee Effect
The Secrets of Hope the Honey Bee is available online now from Amazon Books in soft cover print or Kindle editions. Click here to order your copy and get buzzed about our bees.
All about Dr Gerry
After a near fatal encounter with blood sucking ticks many years ago in the Surrey Hills, ‘Hope’ was all I had left. Before this encounter, my life had been exceptional. I lived it full and free. I had been a multi award winning minor British female inventor, innovator and marketer, a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London, slowly building my reputation. I had been the first female to gain a pilot’s licence on fixed wing microlights at my local flying club and second female to gain a rating on the Seamax flying boat in Europe. Fun times with TV appearances on shows such as BBC Eggheads and Beat the Boss.
During 2006/7 I had found ticks attached to my body while walking in the Surrey Hills, not long after around 2007/8, I had become frequently unwell with bouts of reoccurring infections, which no antibiotic would heal. After constant misdiagnosis, in 2011 I commenced a PhD, yet within a matter of months I had become bedridden with pleurisy, pneumonia, malaria like symptoms and raging fevers. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months into years. Beginning to suffer brain damage I lost my memory and suffered speech and partial facial paralysis. Unable to remember my work or my name, I was admitted to a private hospital where I was diagnosed with two strains of Lyme disease; Mycoplasma Pneumonia; Babesia; Bbartonella and Ehrlichia. Hooked up to antibiotics by IV line, and then with 3 years of further antibiotics and other treatments, it took its toll, it was too little too late. Improved, but still desperately unwell, I found out about how honey bee venom had ‘cured’ Lyme disease. I had lost most of my hope and with nothing more to lose other than my mortal soul. In May 2015 I took my first honey bee sting and many stings followed. After 3 months I had re commenced my PhD and had become a beekeeper, on a steep learning curve into the mystic art and science of beekeeping. Miraculously, two years later in July 2017 I graduated with my Doctorate. In 2017 I was initiated as a Druid, which helps me understand our relationship with our ancestors, philosophy and the relation to our earth and creatures great and small. I joined a rowing club and learnt to scull, which helped with my balance. I now scull frequently and will start competing in 2019. In 2018 after 3 years of using bee venom and applying over 4500 stings to my body, I was clear of Lyme but the residual damage lingers. A scientific paper was published in 2017 showing how bee venom was more effective at killing Lyme Disease than antibiotics. How very ‘lucky’! In 2018 I began speaking on the subject of ‘Medicinal Apitherapy’, which is the therapeutic uses of honey bee products, and now speak widely to bee associations and other organisations in the UK on the subject and I tell my story of how bee venom saved my life. Finally, in August 2018 my dream of flying the Spitfire at RAF Biggin Hill came true.
‘Hope’ was born out of great pain and a passion to get myself well again. I wrote ‘Hope’ originally for fun and escapism to transport myself to the past many years ago, when, as a child times, thoughts and things seemed unadulterated, innocent, pure and happy.
Finally, out of the eye of the storm I have sought solace in writing fun innocent educational stories to inspire children and the adults who read them to their children and grandchildren. I still marvel at the true wonderment of the honey bee, with a deep sense of gratitude for their healing qualities. I learn more every day about their incredible gifts. My ‘Hope’ is to transfer the treasures in my heart and mind, to create a fun learning experience for others in the form of my story writing, and to relay the deep meanings and magic within our magnificent eco system, through my flagship book, The Secrets of Hope the Honey Bee.
Dr Gerry Brierley