Title: The Secret Life of Bees
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Publisher: January 28th 2003 by Penguin (Non-Classics) (first published January 28th 2002)
ISBN: 0142001740 (ISBN13: 9780142001745)
Quick Review: 4 stars (out of 5)
Why I Read It: David brought this home from the library sale.
Where I Obtained the Book: At my local library.
Synopsis: Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire life around one devastating, blurred memory - the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-hearted, and sometimes just fierce, black woman Rosaleen, who acts as her "stand-in mother."
When Rosaleen insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily knows it's time to spring them both free. They take off in the only direction Lily can think of, toward a town called Tiburon, South Carolina - a name she found on the back of a picture amid the few possessions left by her mother.
There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters named May, June, and August. Lily thinks of them as the calendar sisters and enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honey, and of the Black Madonna who presides over this household of strong, wise women. Maternal loss and betrayal, guilt and forgiveness entwine in a story that leads Lily to the single thing her heart longs for most.
Review: I enjoyed this book, it was my waiting book (appts, kids stuff, etc.) It took be a bit to read because of that, every time I picked it up I was right back in the pink house. I could pick it up at any point during the day and be right there with the characters. The story of loss and grief was heart breaking, but the love that she found in the pink house made it all OK. The loss of Lily’s mother influenced her life and she had to forgive her to move on. Roseleen’s love for Lily and the women in the pink house was heartwarming, as was Lily’s growing love for all of them. The relationship between the women and Mary was interesting and calming at the same time. Lily needed a mother and she found several willing to take that role on. This is the story of mothers and daughters and I really enjoyed it. Death, loss, love, hate, and a huge amount of other emotions are weaved through the pages.
Civil rights changed things for the better and if you don’t think so read this book and find out what it used to be like. It’s much different from the history books. I didn’t realize how bad it was, times are so different now.
Author Biography: Sue Monk Kidd was born in the small city of Sylvester in Georgia. She felt the pull to write as a child, but because of the attitudes in the South during her youth, she only took to writing aound the age of thirty. She started with spiritual and religious texts, about Christianity, and only began writing fiction when she was in her forties. She began working on her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, in 1997 and it was published in 2002 by Viking, to instant acclaim. It has sold more than 4.5 million copies, been over two years on the New York Times bestseller list and been translated into more than 23 languages.
Her second novel, The Mermaid Chair, was published in 2005, and has been a great success as well. In 2006, a collection of Kidd's early, spiritual and religious writings was published, called Firstlight.
Kidd's now working on a new novel, and lives with her husband Sandy and their black lab Lily near Charleston, South Carolina.