The Secret Life of Bees

Sue Monk Kidd

Jan 2003 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

The multi-million bestselling novel about a young girl's journey towards healing and the transforming power of love, from the award-winning author of The Invention of Wings and The Book of Longings

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 Black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of Black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

Ratings and reviews

I've read this book twice. Each time it has spoken to me differently, as the first time I read it I was close to Lily's age and experiencing some amount of angst that allowed her character to resonate with me deeply. Now, reading again in my late 20s, married, pregnant with our first baby, I see this story in a whole new light and Lily's mother, and August are the ones who resonate with me most. I am certain this book will speak to you too no matter your age or circumstances.

I read it because of the Dirty Laundry Fanfiction about Keith and Lance from Voltron, it's the only reason i cried reading this book

love this story gives me emotions of all sorts .....love it love it....when life gets u dwn keep carrian on...god bless

About the author

Sue Monk Kidd is the award-winning and bestselling author of the novels The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, the memoirs When the Heart Waits, The Dance of the Dissident, and Traveling with Pomegranates, which she wrote with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor, as well as Firstlight, a collection of her early writings. She lives on an island off the coast of Florida with her husband.
 
Jessica Hische is a letterer, illustrator, typographer, and web designer. She currently serves on the Type Directors Club board of directors, has been named a Forbes Magazine "30 under 30" in art and design as well as an ADC Young Gun and one of Print Magazine’s "New Visual Artists". She has designed for Wes Anderson, McSweeney's, Tiffany & Co, Penguin Books and many others. She resides primarily in San Francisco, occasionally in Brooklyn.