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The Secret Life of Bees (novel)

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The Secret Life of Bees is a 2002 novel by author Sue Monk Kidd that has received much critical acclaim.

Plot

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Lily Owens, the protagonist and narrator of the story, runs away from home with her stand-in mother, Rosaleen, and has a vague memory of accidentally shooting her mother at the age of four. Rosaleen has been arrested for assault, disturbing the peace, and theft. On her way to register to vote, Rosaleen steals two church fans and pours snuff on the shoes of three of the most racist people in town after being verbally assaulted with racial slurs. After being beaten with a flashlight by one of the racists and being beaten again in her cell, Rosaleen is sent to the hospital where Lily breaks her out of jail. Together, they hitchhike to Tiburon, South Carolina on the hunch that Lily's mother, who had written the city name on the back of a photo of a black Virgin Mary, had once lived there.

After arriving in Tiburon, Lily spots the Black Mary on a jar of honey in a store. Lily goes to the beekeeper's pink house and are taken in by the Boatwright sisters (May, June and August.) They supply Rosaleen and Lily with housing, and Lily becomes an apprentice beekeeper under the guidance of August, head of the household.

Zachary Taylor, a high school student who works at the apiary to pay for college and become a lawyer, is arrested after refusing to reveal which of his friends threw a bottle at a white man protesting a White Hollywood movie star who is bringing a Negro woman with him to a theatrical premiere. When May, one of the sisters, hears of this, she commits suicide by drowning herself, with a rock on her to hold her down.

Characters

  • Terrence Ray Owens ("T. Ray"): A peach farmer and the neglectful, abusive father of Lily Owens, who turned bitter after the loss of his wife, Deborah.
  • Rosaleen Daise: A caring, persistent worker on T. Ray's peach farm who serves as a stand-in mother for Lily.
  • Lily Owens: The 14-year old main character and narrator of the story, who escapes with Rosaleen from the town of Sylvan to live in Tiburon with a trio of beekeeping sisters.
  • August Boatwright: An industrious, loving ex-schoolteacher and ex-housekeeper, and the head of the beekeeping household (the queen bee).
  • June Boatwright: A player of the cello who once was a worker in a funeral home.
  • May Boatwright: The third Boatwright sister, who, according to the characters, developed a disorder where she could not separate other people's grief from her own around the time her twin sister, April, commited suicide..
  • April Boatwright: May's twin sister that commited suicide.
  • Zachary Taylor: An industrious high school student who works on the Boatwrights' apiary in order to pay his way through college. He dreams of becoming a great Negro lawyer. He is arrested after not telling which of his friends threw a bottle at a white man. Lily falls in love with him after a few weeks of working with him in Tiburon.

Influences

Like Lily, as a child the author also had a nanny with who habitually chewed snuff (tobacco that is spit after chewing). Although the author wasn't forced to kneel on grits as punishment, both she and Lily shared the same disaffection for them.

Awards

In addition to being a New York Times bestseller, The Secret Life of Bees has been selected by Good Morning America's "Read This!" Book Club.

2003 SEBA (Southeastern Book Sellers Association) Award for Best Fiction Novel

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