The author of A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings talks to Alex Preston about her new book Mother Animal, which investigates motherhood in the animal world, combining personal memoir with scientific insight to ask how motherhood works in other species.

Helen Jukes was among the founding members of the Bee Friendly Trust; she tutors at the creative writing programme at Oxford University.

Alex Preston writes for the Observer and the Guardian. His books include In Love and War; As Kingfishers Catch Fire; and Winchelsea.

Photo © Amanda Jackson