Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 352 pages
Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 54 minutes
First Published: 2001
View in Goodreads
Buy on Amazon
Publisher’s Description
Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells 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.
Quotes from The Secret Life of Bees
Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn’t know a thing about life.
If you need something from somebody always give that person a way to hand it to you.
It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening.
Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.
Movie Trailer for The Secret Life of Bees(2008)
About Sue Monk Kidd
Sue Monk Kidd is the author of four novels: The Secret Life of Bees, The Mermaid Chair, The Invention of Wings, and The Book of Longings. She has also written several memoirs, including The Dance of the Dissident Daughter and Traveling with Pomegranates, co-authored by her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. She currently lives in North Carolina. Visit the author’s website →