by SueMonkKidd (Author)
The multimillion-copy bestselling first novel by the author of "The Invention of Wings," coming from Viking in January 2014 "The Secret Life of Bees" was a "New York Times" bestseller for more than two and a half years, a "Good Morning America" Read This Book Club pick and was made into an award-winning film starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys. A coming of age tale set in South Carolina in 1964, "The Secret Life of Bees" will appeal to fans ofKathryn Stockett s "The Help"and Beth Hoffman s "Saving CeeCee Honeycutt," and 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 black stand-in mother, Rosaleen, insults three of the town s most vicious 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 continue to share and pass on to their daughters for years to come."
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2003
ISBN 10: 0142001740
ISBN 13: 9780142001745
Inspiring. Sue Monk Kidd is a direct literary descendant of Carson McCullers. --The Baltimore Sun
Fully imagined...the core of this story is Lily's search for a mother, and she finds one in a place she never expected. --The New York Times Book Review
This is the story of a young girl's journey toward healing, and of the intrinsic sacredness of living in the world. Simply wonderful. --Anne Rivers Siddons
The stunning metaphors and realistic characters are so poignant they will bring tears to your eyes. --Library Journal
Kidd has written a triumphant coming-of-age novel that speaks to the universal need for love --New Orleans Times-Picayune
The chapters...dance on the edges of 'Magical Realism, ' that blend of the fabulous and the ordinary that can invest a tale with a sense of wonderment, as is the case here. --Richmond Times-Dispatch
I am amazed that this moving, original, and accomplished book is a first novel. It is wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous, and deliciously eccentric. Do read it. --Joanna Trollope
A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love. --Connie May Fowler
A truly original Southern voice. --Anita Shreve
It's as if Kidd loaded up a take-home plate with treats, and you said 'Oh, I couldn't, ' and then scarfed it down in the car on the way home. --Entertainment Weekly
The tale of one motherless daughter's discovery of what family really means--and of the strange and wondrous places we love. --The Washington Post
Sue Monk Kidd's first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, spent more than one hundred weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has sold more than six million copies in the United States, and was turned into an award-winning major motion picture, and has been translated into thirty-six languages. Her second novel, The Mermaid Chair, was a number-one New York Times bestseller and adapted into a television movie. Her third novel, The Invention of Wings, was a number-one New York Times bestseller and a selection of Oprah's Book Club 2.0. She is also the author of several acclaimed memoirs, including the New York Times bestseller Traveling with Pomegranates, written with her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor. She lives in Florida.