Description
Set in South Carolina during the tumultuous summer of 1964, this coming-of-age novel follows fourteen-year-old Lily Owens as she flees an abusive home with her caregiver, Rosaleen. Haunted by the fragmented memory of her mother's death, Lily embarks on a journey that leads her to the Boatwright sisters, three Black beekeepers whose honey-scented home becomes a sanctuary. Within their mesmerizing world, filled with the wisdom of bees and the reverence for a Black Madonna, Lily discovers the transformative power of female community, uncovers secrets about her mother's past, and begins to heal.
Available Editions
paperback
Penguin
Published Jan 28, 2003
340 pages
ISBN: 9780142001745
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Community Reviews(1)
dnf at 11%. i don’t have the time or patience to read a story by a white author about racism filtered through the victimized and racially prejudiced white child in the 60s as a collective of black women fulfill the magical-black-character trope in efforts to save her. especially when other reviews make it clear lily never actually unpacks her racial bias, continues to be fatphobic, and rosaleen’s story is sidelined by lily’s ignorance of it happening. i do not have it in me to suffer that.
Details
First Published
2003
Language
eng
Featured in Challenges
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.