The Beekeeper's Apprentice

Set between 1915 and 1919, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice unfolds against the backdrop of World War I, a conflict that profoundly disrupted British society. The number of soldiers called up for duty and the subsequent immense loss of men on the Western Front created an unprecedented labor shortage, compelling women to enter the workforce in traditionally male roles. As Russell observes, “Necessity dictated that women work outside the home […] and so women put on men’s boots and took control of trams and breweries, factories and fields” (43). For example, the Women’s Land Army, established in 1917, recruited over 250,000 volunteers to work in agriculture, while hundreds of thousands more became Munitionettes in armament factories (“Women in WWI.” Teignmouth and Shaldon Remembers WW1). 

This societal upheaval accelerated the pre-war push for women’s rights, culminating in the Representation of the People Act of 1918, which granted suffrage, or the right to vote, to women over 30 who met property qualifications (“Representation of the People Act.” The National Archives). This era also gave rise to the archetype of the “new woman”: educated, independent, and resistant to conventional domestic roles.