The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell, 310 pages

It takes me forever to actually read as opposed to listen to a book as I seem to have the attention span of a gnat.  I read this book in two evenings. 

Set in Glasgow, Scotland, Marnie and Nelly are two sisters with a problem.  Their parents are dead and if anyone finds out they will be tossed into the foster care system.  Marnie is 15 and Nelly is 12.  They have a kind neighbor, Lennie, who figures out something is wrong and strives to help the girls.

This is a darkly comedic novel of growing up too hard and too fast.  It is told from the three perspectives of Marnie, Nelly and Lennie.  What shines through is the goodness of just enough people to make it possible for these two girls to survive in this hard world.  This is a book club book and I am looking forward to the discussion - my only worry is that some of the language is caustic enough that it might stop some people from reading it.