Le bleu des abeilles (The Blue of Bees) is a child’s struggle with words, sounds, and meaning, to possess and be possessed by the French language.
The story takes place between a carefree France and the tormented Argentina of the 1970s. A little girl is forced to leave her country. Her parents, political activists, are at risk of persecution by the military dictatorship.
Prior to leaving Argentina, a dreamlike Paris, with the Eiffel Tower and second-hand booksellers, becomes the city upon which the little girl pins all her hopes. But on arriving, she moves into a housing project in Blanc-Mesnil, where her mother already lives.
“It’s not Paris,” she writes to her friends, “but it’s right next door.”
At school, her accent bothers her. What can she do to be like “all” the other children?
Le bleu des abeilles speaks of a child’s “rage” and a determination to find their place in exile.
