Porter Square Books: Boston Edition and GrubStreet are delighted to present Julie Carrick Dalton, author of The Last Beekeeper, in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum. This event will take place on Wednesday, March 15 at 7pm at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition (50 Liberty Dr. Boston, MA 02210).

Julie Carrick Dalton's The Last Beekeeper is a celebration of found family, an exploration of truth versus power, and the triumph of hope in the face of despair.

"Fans of Delia Owens will swoon to find their new favorite author.” (Hank Phillippi Ryan)

It’s been more than a decade since the world has come undone, and Sasha Severn has returned to her childhood home with one goal in mind—find the mythic research her father, the infamous Last Beekeeper, hid before he was incarcerated.

There, Sasha is confronted with a group of squatters who have claimed the quiet, idyllic farm as a way to escape the horrific conditions of state housing. While she feels threatened by their presence at first, the friends soon become her newfound family, offering what she hasn't felt since her father was imprisoned: security and hope. Maybe it's time to forget the family secrets buried on the farm and focus on her future.

But just as she settles into her new life, Sasha witnesses the impossible. She sees a honeybee, presumed extinct. People who claim to see bees are ridiculed and silenced for reasons Sasha doesn't understand, but she can't shake the feeling that this impossible bee is connected to her father's missing research. Fighting to uncover the truth could shatter Sasha's fragile security and threaten the lives of her new-found family—or it could save them all.

Sasha's journey is a meditation on forgiveness and redemption and a reminder to cherish the beauty that still exists in this fragile world.

Julie Carrick Dalton is the Boston-based author of The Last Beekeeper and Waiting for the Night Song (2021.) She is a proud graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator, as well as an alum of Bread Loaf, Tin House, and Harvard Extension School's Master's in Creative Writing and Literature program. With a background in farming and beekeeping, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of 'fiction in the age of climate crisis' at universities, museums, libraries, and conferences. Julie is the winner of the William Faulkner Literary Competition and the Writers League of Texas Award for contemporary fiction, and was a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for best suspense novel, the Caledonia Novel Award, and the WFWA Star Award for best debut novel. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, Orion, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Chicago Review of Books, and other platforms. Her first novel, Waiting for the Night Song, was named a Most Anticipated Book by CNN, Newsweek, USA Today, and Parade, and was an Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Book of the Month. Julie recently signed another contract with Forge Books, Macmillan, for two more novels, so stay tuned! When she isn't writing, reading, or wrangling her four kids and two dogs, you can probably find Julie kayaking, skiing, or digging in her garden.

Rachel Barenbaum is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels  Atomic Anna and A Bend in the Stars. She is a prolific writer and reviewer. Her work has appeared in the LA Review of Books, The Tel Aviv Review of Books, and more. She is a scholar in residence at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis and is the founder/ host of the podcast Debut Spotlight. In a former life she was a hedge fund manager and spin instructor. She has degrees from Harvard in Business, and Literature and Philosophy. She is an elected member of Town Meeting in Brookline, MA.