The Secret Life of Bees [Paperback]

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

Set in South Carolina in 1964,The Secret Life of Beestells 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 sister, 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. A moving first novel...Lily is an authentic and winning character and her story is compellingly  told. The bees presage her journey toward self-acceptance, faith and freedom that is at the heart of this novel. —USA Today

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 orlÓ#