The Page 69 Test: "Bees in June"

Sunday, September 7, 2025

"Bees in June"

Elizabeth Bass Parman grew up entranced by family stories, such as the time her grandmother woke to find Eleanor Roosevelt making breakfast in her kitchen. She worked

for many years as a reading specialist for a non-profit and spends her summers in a cottage by a Canadian lake. She has two grown daughters and lives outside her native Nashville with her husband.

Parman applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Bees in June, and reported the following:

From page 69:
AFTER SHE HAD SET THE LAST PAN ON THE DISH drainer, Rennie wiped her hands, slipped off her shoes, and went outside for her evening check on the peanuts, sunflowers, and pumpkins. The soft grass on her feet always grounded her, no matter how frazzled she felt. She inhaled deeply, drawing into her lungs the air that was full of the promise of summer. Soon enough the heat and humidity would become cloying, but for now she welcomed it like a friend. Her little plot of land shone in the golden-hour light. After resting with her uncle in the bee yard following his fall, she had found the energy to dig the holes for the seeds, with Poe circling his encouragement in the skies above her. She was pleased to have finally put in her garden, feeling like she was slowly syncing back into the rhythm of life.

The tender shoots were about eight inches tall, with the delicate oval leaves of the peanut plants resembling butterfly wings, while the bigger pumpkin leaves looked like green umbrellas protecting the smaller leaves underneath. The sunflowers were leaping skyward, taller than anything else growing. So different in appearance, all the leaves had one thing in common, the primal need to reach skyward, toward the sun.
What it conveys: Bees in June, set in the summer of 1969, is the story of Rennie Hendricks, a woman in an abusive marriage who is rediscovering her own joy and power after suffering a tragic loss. She finds solace in two places, the kitchen and her uncle’s bee yard, both mentioned on this page. Rennie is deeply connected to nature, especially when she is with the bees. This page references the idea of both healing the body by breathing air from beehives, a form of apitherapy and grounding, walking barefoot in grass, to further emphasize the restorative power of nature. She nurtures by providing delicious meals, both for the humans and for Poe, the crow she is growing the food for.

What it misses: Bees in June has a diverse cast of characters, including her invalid uncle Dixon, her cousin May Dean, and, of course the bees, but none of them appear on this page. Uncle Dixon personifies the wisdom of the natural world. “Treasure every bee you see, Rennie.” May Dean, described by Rennie’s husband as a “dim bulb,” is worried about the astronauts landing safely on a crescent moon. “Shouldn’t they go when it’s full, to give them a better chance?” Then there are the bees, who have their own chapters. Acting as a Greek chorus, they are wise and omniscient, but also not above interfering when they feel the humans have strayed from their path. The bees’ conversation about the humans begins the story.
The sooner he gets to Spark, the sooner his shattered heart will begin to knit back together.
What about her heart?
It grows colder every day. If he does not hurry, though, more than her heart is at risk. Her very life depends upon our success.
Is he going to save her?
No, something even better is afoot. She’s about to realize she must save herself.
Page 69 of Bees in June does a good job of communicating the overall feel of the book, but it lacks the engaging secondary characters that add to the flavor of the story.