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The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780142001745 |
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
"The bees came the summer of 1964, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit, and I mean whole new orbit. Looking back on it now, I want to say the bees were sent to me. I want to say they showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary, setting events in motion I could never have guessed." So begins the story of Lily Melissa Owens, a plucky girl, rich in humor despite heart wrenching circumstances. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, her entire life has been shaped around one devastating, though blurred, memory- the afternoon her mother was killed. Four at the time, she remembers innocently picking up the gun. And, she has her father's eyewitness account of the gun firing. People remind her it was an accident, yet she's inhabited by a torturous guilt. Lily's only real companion is Rosaleen, a tender, but fierce-hearted black woman who cooks, cleans and acts as her "stand-in mother."
South Carolina in 1964 is a place and time of seething racial divides. When violence explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is desperate, not only to save Rosaleen, but to flee a life she can no longer endure. Calling upon her colorful wits and uncommon daring, she breaks Rosaleen out of jail and the two of them take off, runaway-fugitives conjoined in an escape that quickly turns into Lily's quest for the truth about her mother's life.
Following a trail left ten years earlier, Lily and Rosaleen end up in the home of three bee-keeping sisters. No ordinary women, the sisters revere a Black Madonna and tend a unique brand of female spirituality that reaches back to the time of slavery. As Lily's life becomes deeply entwined with theirs, she is irrevocably altered. In a mesmerizing world of bees and honey, amid the strength and power of wise women, Lily journeys through painful secrets and shattering betrayals, finding her way to the single thing her heart longs for most.
Learn more about Sue Monk Kidd at SueMonkKidd.com.
South Carolina in 1964 is a place and time of seething racial divides. When violence explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is desperate, not only to save Rosaleen, but to flee a life she can no longer endure. Calling upon her colorful wits and uncommon daring, she breaks Rosaleen out of jail and the two of them take off, runaway-fugitives conjoined in an escape that quickly turns into Lily's quest for the truth about her mother's life.
Following a trail left ten years earlier, Lily and Rosaleen end up in the home of three bee-keeping sisters. No ordinary women, the sisters revere a Black Madonna and tend a unique brand of female spirituality that reaches back to the time of slavery. As Lily's life becomes deeply entwined with theirs, she is irrevocably altered. In a mesmerizing world of bees and honey, amid the strength and power of wise women, Lily journeys through painful secrets and shattering betrayals, finding her way to the single thing her heart longs for most.
Learn more about Sue Monk Kidd at SueMonkKidd.com.
Review:
"In this gem of a first novel, Sue Monk Kidd creates a charmed Southern place, a bee farm in Tiburon, S.C., and its eccentric yet endearing inhabitants, the black Boatwright sisters (other wise known as the 'calendar girls' May, June, and August). The main character, Lily Owens, is a fourteen-year-old white runaway who finds safe haven with these nurturing honey producing women as she tries to escape a violent father and confused, haunting memories of her past. Lily encounters a world of strong women who embrace her and mother her back to life and a future of promise and hope. Rich in symbolism and feminine adaptations of devout religious practices, Kidd uses the bee metaphor to craft a captivating story of self-discovery, shared pains and joys. Acclaimed for such insightful nonfiction as When the Heart Waits, Kidd the novelist promises to be equally noteworthy." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review:
"Sue Monk Kidd is an extraordinary storyteller. Beautifully written." Ursula Hegi
Review:
"Sue Monk Kidd's eccentric, inventive, and ultimately forgiving novel is reminscent of the work of Reynolds Price in its ability to create a truly original Southern voice." Anita Shreve
Review:
"A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love." Connie May Fowler
Synopsis:
Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love--a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
Synopsis:
Now in paperback comes the intoxicating debut novel of "one motherless daughter's discover of . . . the strange and wondrous places we find love" ("The Washington Post"). A bestseller in hardcover, Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing work is set in South Carolina in 1964. A movie version is forthcoming from Fox Searchlight.
About the Author
Sue Monk Kidd, author of the highly acclaimed memoirs The Dance of the Dissident Daughter and When the Heart Waits, has won a Poets & Writers award, a Katherine Anne Porter Award, and a Bread Loaf scholarship. Two of her short stories--including an excerpt from The Secret Life of Bees--were selected as notable stories in Best American Short Stories. The Secret Life of Bees was nominated for the prestigious Orange Prize for fiction in England.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
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faithjourneywoman, January 15, 2008 (view all comments by faithjourneywoman)
I truely enjoyed the book and after reading it I couldn"t read another for some time. It was a very personal book for me because I was looking for my birth mother at the time ( I was 55 at the time and I was adopted from Germany and came to the US when I was 2) and I could truely identify with the main character.
Recently i read that they were makin a movie of this book and when I read the cast members I was disappointed. When I read i get very visual and I did not picture Queen Latifah etc. Sounds like they wanted star power. It will be very interesting to see how the movie will play out.
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CopyCat, November 10, 2007 (view all comments by CopyCat)
A half credible tale weaves throughout the south during the turbulent times of racial enlightenment in the 60's. Told from the perspective of the young lady who runs away from a secret in her past, racism, and a neglectful and emotionally abusive father, the story is sometimes very disjointed and confused. As you travel along on the adventure of the young lady and her black "nanny", you will bounce over the issues of racism, womens' rights, religion, and coming of age. At the end of the journey, you will be able to tie all of the pieces together and at least understand the logic that exists in her life, sharing the revelations of maturity, both physical and social, of a young girl in the 60's.
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KDeardorff, August 24, 2007 (view all comments by KDeardorff)
Wow! What a pleasant surprise. This book was recommended to me by my mother, a bookseller, who usually is "spot on" with her recommendations. This one was no exception. I have to admit that the title and synopsis didn't appeal to me much at first but by the 2nd page I was hooked! This is a book you won't soon forget.
View all 6 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780142001745
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Penguin Books
- Location:
- New York
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Race relations
- Subject:
- Sisters
- Subject:
- South carolina
- Subject:
- Teenage girls
- Subject:
- Domestic fiction
- Subject:
- Maternal deprivation.
- Subject:
- Beekeepers.
- Subject:
- African-American women
- Subject:
- Bildungsromans
- Subject:
- Literary
- Copyright:
- 2002
- Series Volume:
- 57
- Publication Date:
- January 2003
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 336
- Dimensions:
- 37 x 41 cm. +
