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A review of The Secret Life of Bees

by Sue Monk Kidd

A young girl's journey of ultimate truth and forgiveness

Reviewed by: Beth Williams
About Beth Williams

The Secret Life of Bees Fourteen-year-old Lily Owens aches to have her mother back. She vaguely remembers the day her mother began haphazardly throwing clothes into a suitcase, when Lily's father returned home, and chaos ensued. Lily was four-years-old that day. The day her mother died. Because of little Lily.

Lily, motherless and living on a peach farm with her cold, unloving father "T-Ray," finds her life in complete disarray after an eye-opening incident between her surrogate mother, African-American, Rosaleen, and the local police. Following a stern and cruel punishment from her father, Lily makes a desperate decision to run away and take the now-wanted Rosaleen with her.

After finding a postcard of her mother's with the name "Tiburon, South Carolina," written on it, Lily decides that's where she and Rosaleen will head. A twist of fate lands the two fugitives (Lily from her father; Rosaleen from the law) on a honey farm, owned and run by sisters May, June and August.

Lily doesn't reveal her true identity to the trio, instead telling them she is an orphan on her way to an aunt's house. At first, the sisters don't question Lily, instead allowing her and Rosaleen to stay with them. Lily is sure she's found paradise, working with the bees during the day and sharing dinners with the story-telling sisters at night. But, as with all things, Lily will soon have to face the pain of the truth which will change her life more than she could ever have imagined.

Set in the turbulent sixties, just after the Civil Rights Act was passed, this is the story of one young girl's journey to find love, happiness and forgiveness. Along the way, her character is tested as she comes face-to-face with racism, emotional pain, religious beliefs and the truth about her own mother.

Each chapter opens with a fact about bees, and the allure of honey in the novel is strong. The sisters use honey for everything: to help them sleep at night; to help them wake up in the morning; to eat. I became so intrigued by the fact that Lily's hair was transformed from stringy and hard-to-manage to soft and shiny with the use of honey that I tried it myself.

For anyone who's looking for an enjoyable, rare read, "The Secret Life of Bees" is a great place to start. Lily's first person narrative puts readers in her shoes, rooting for her, crying for her and maybe provoking some inner thought about their own lives.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: The Secret Life of Bees

Copyright © by Beth Williams, 2002

Reviewed by Beth Williams:
-- The Lost Diaries of Iris Weed - by Janice Law
-- The Artist's Way - by Julia Cameron
-- The Secret Life of Bees - by Sue Monk Kidd
-- The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking - by Irma S. Rombauer
-- The Fibromyalgia Relief Handbook - by Chet Cunningham
-- Native Son - by Richard Wright
-- A Painted House - by John Grisham
-- Eyewitness Travel Guide London - by Michael Leapman
-- To Kill A Mockingbird - by Harper Lee
-- Man's Search For Meaning - by Viktor E. Frankl
-- This Side of Paradise - by F. Scott Fitzgerald
-- We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust - by Jacob Boas
-- The Beautiful and Damned - by F. Scott Fitzgerald
-- Anastasia: The Lost Princess - by James Blair Lovell
-- The Nazi Officer’s Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived The Holocaust - by Edith Hahn Beer









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