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| Sue Monk Kidd started her writing career doing non-fiction articles and books. Many of her pieces were inspirational and spiritual. Many of her articles appeared in Guideposts, and have been released as a compilation Firstlight. She published her first book, God’s Joyful Surprise, in 1988. She has written two fiction books, The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair. According to her web site she is currently working on a travel memoir with her daughter which is scheduled to be published this year, Traveling with Pomegranates.
This book review covers her first fiction book, The Secret Life of Bees. It is set in 1964 and occurs in South Carolina. Blacks have just been given the right to vote. The heroine of the story, an adolescent white girl, Lily Owen must deal with racial issues as well as her own adolescence and her dysfunctional family. Lily’s mother dies early in Lily’s life – read the book to find out how. I don’t want to give anything away. Lily is raised by her father, T.Ray, who has his own difficulties such as being a single parent and dealing with love’s rejection. By today’s standards, he would be an abusive father, but by 1960’s standards he just would have been considered a tough father trying to raise his daughter the best he could. Don’t get me wrong, I am not making excuses for his actions, but having been raised in the sixties, Lily’s father would not have been sanctioned for his actions.
Needing help in the raising of Lily, T. Ray hires Rosaleen. She had picked peaches in T. Ray’s orchards prior to coming to work in the house. Rosaleen and Lily have a bit of trouble with some local racists when Rosaleen attempts to register to vote. Lily and Rosaleen run away and end up in Tiburon, South Carolina where they are taken in by three eccentric Black sisters that raise honey bees and sell products derived from the bees. The sisters are the keepers of the Black Madonna, and provide Lily with an insight into Southern Black culture in the early days of the civil rights movement while helping Lily discover herself.
The Secret Life of Bees is an exceptional story, and very well written. The story is believable and the characters are well developed. A white child living with a Black family in the South, probably would not have been allowed in the sixties, but Kidd pulls it off in her story. Kidd grew up in South Carolina in the sixties which is probably how she makes the story work so well. I don’t think that anyone who hasn’t lived it could write it.
Bruce G. Smith 2/1/2009
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