The Secret Life of Bees

Written by Sue Monk Kidd

302 pages

Published by Penguin Books

Review by Paula Day

Receives:

 

This first novel from Sue Monk Kidd is a beautifully written treasure of life truths and truths that appear only after much suffering and soul-searching. Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement in 1964 South Carolina, The Secret Life of Bees is the story of Lily Owens, a teenager who must come to terms with the truth about her dead mother. Lily's life has been consumed in dreams about her mother. Lily's father, whom she calls T. Ray because daddy doesn't fit him with his distant, even cruel ways, tells Lily that she is responsible for her mother's death.

Her black nanny, Rosaleen, is intent on registering to vote but she is arrested after getting into a scuffle with some of the most violent racists in their South Carolina town. After escaping from the authorities, Lily and Rosaleen flee, Rosaleen to get away from injustice and Lily in search of information about her mother. In Tiburon, S.C., Lily finds her way to the pink house of the calendar sisters, August, June, and May, and she finds herself immersed in the secret world of beekeeping, a delicate art. Through her relationships with these loving black women, especially August, Lily learns that the mother she always imagined never existed, but after learning some difficult truths she discovers that sometimes you may find a mother, even more than one mother, in places where you least expect.

Kidd uses the every day language of teenagers in a simple but poetic way so that we can hear the voice of Lily and hear the truth of her hard-learned lessons at the same time. There is innocence and wisdom in Lily's narration. The characterizations of Lily, T. Ray, Rosaleen, even Zach, the young black man who captures Lily's heart, ring true to life. Not overly melodramatic, not overdrawn, these are people we have witnessed in our own lives in one form or another. August Boatwright is the mother-friend that all growing girls wished they had. Her wisdom and her love are the driving force in this story. Wherever love is, that is family, that is home. That is a lesson that everyone needs to be reminded of.

For anyone who has felt disappointed by the truth about their families and needs to find forgiveness, for anyone who needs to be reminded about the joy of just being alive, The Secret Life of Bees will be a treasure you will never forget.

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Paula Day is a contributor to The Copperfield Review. She lives in Los Angeles, California.