A QUEEN'S READING ROOM PICK 2023

'I adored The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention Of Wings, which were both wise, charming and sensual' SANTA MONTEFIORE

The Secret Life of Bees: The multi-million-copy bestselling novel about a young girl's journey towards healing and the transforming power of love, from the award-winning author of The Invention of Wings.

Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four years old. Now, at fourteen, she yearns for forgiveness and a mother's love. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh and unforgiving father, she has only one friend, Rosaleen, a black servant.

When racial tension explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily chooses to flee with her. Fugitives from justice, the pair follow a trail left by the woman who died ten years before. Finding sanctuary in the home of three beekeeping sisters, Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world as about the mystery surrounding her mother.

'A wonderful book, by turns sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris' Daily Telegraph

'Charming, funny, moving' The Times

'Wonderfully written, powerful, poignant . . . read it' Joanna Trollope

What readers are saying about The Secret Life of Bees:

'One of the most poignant and heart tugging books I have ever read'

'Emotional and heart-breaking, yet full of hope and love. I laughed and cried equally through the book. This wonderful book will stay with me for a long time to come'

'One of the best books I've read in a while. Touching, well-written, beautiful, full of expression, insightful'

'A beautifully written masterpiece. I loved the writing, the descriptions, the humour sprinkled through the story. There was sadness and love, hope and forgiveness. I highly recommend this book'

Sue Monk Kidd's exquisite first novel has received huge acclaim. 'Wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous... Do read it' Joanna Trollope

About the Author
Sue Monk Kidd's first novel, THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, spent 2.5 years on the New York Times bestseller list, and has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. THE MERMAID CHAIR, THE INVENTION OF WINGS and THE BOOK OF LONGINGS were all New York Times bestsellers. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES was long-listed for the Orange Prize (now the Women's Prize for Fiction), and was turned into an award-winning film. Sue is also the author of several acclaimed non-fiction books including the New York Times bestseller TRAVELLING WITH POMEGRANATES, co-written with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. Sue lives in Florida with her husband Sandy. www.suemonkkidd.com Twitter @suemonkkidd

Reviews
Moving, original, and accomplished ... wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous, and takes a line which is - refreshingly - strongly female without being cliche-feminist. It is also deliciously eccentric, which lifts it out of the usual category of a rite-of-passage novel into the realms of real distinction. Do read it * Joanna Trollope *
Charming, funny, moving and unmistakeably from the American South... a story that whips together heat, violence, eccentricity, madness and the Gothic * The Times *
This is a wonderful book, by turns funny, sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris. * The Daily Telegraph *
Eccentric, inventive, and ultimately forgiving... a truly original Southern voice * Anita Shreve *
Monk Kidd has created a narrative as skilful and sweet as a honeycomb. Uplifting and warm-hearted, this is a moving novel and Lily is a fascinating, funny and clever narrator * Literary Review *
Sue Monk Kidd... Illuminates what is beautiful... THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is a gift, filled with hope * Luanne Rice *
This is the story of a young girl's journey toward healing, and of finding, at its end, not only wholeness, but the intrinsic sacredness of living in the world. I think it is simply wonderful * Anne Rivers Siddons *
A wonderfully written debut novel * Kirkus Reviews *
With imagination as lush and colorful as the American South, a clutch of deliciously eccentric characters, and vivid prose, Sue Monk Kidd creates a rich, maternal haven in a harsh world * Christina Schwarz *
As original as its title and rivetingly so... It is one of the most inventive books I have read in a long time, and utterly compelling... This book demands to be read again and again, for it is not so much the solving of the mystery that is compulsive, but the gentle, sensitive, humorous and intensely colourful creation of a world far from our own * Oxford Times *
Sue Monk Kidd has written a wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love * Connie May Fowler *
Lily is a wonderfully petulant and self-absorbed adolescent, and Kidd deftly portrays her sense of injustice as it expands to accomodate broader social evils...August and her sisters, June and May, are no mere vehicles for Lily's salvation; they are individuals as fully imagined as the sweltering, kudzu-carpeted landscape that surrounds them * New York Times Book Review *
What a splendid novel! It's wonderfully thoughtful and sensitive and compulsively readable * Susan Isaacs *
An incredibly original and imaginative book with great charm and atmosphere * Glasgow Evening Times *
A wonderful modern fairy tale...a touching story with a memorable cast of characters * The Big Issue *
A hive's worth of appealing female characters, an off-beat plot and a lovely style... Deeply satisfying * Publishers Weekly *
A honey-sweet novel * Elle *
Superb * Woman & Home *
Maybe it is true that there are no perfect books, but I closed this one believing that I had found perfection. The language is never anything short of crystalline and inspired. The plotting is subtle and careful and exquisitely executed...The characters are lovable and deep-hearted, fully dimensional, never pat. The story endures long after the book is slipped back onto the shelf * Book magazine *
I am amazed that this moving, original, and accomplished book is a first novel. It is wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous, and takes a line which is - refreshingly - strongly female without being cliche-feminist. It is also deliciously eccentric, which lifts it out of the usual category of a rite-of-passage novel into the realms of real distinction. Do read it * Joanna Trollope *
Charming, funny, moving and unmistakeably from the American South... a story that whips together heat, violence, eccentricity, madness and the Gothic * The Times *
Lily is a wonderfully petulant and self-absorbed adolescent, and Kidd deftly portrays her sense of injustice as it expands to accomodate broader social evils...August and her sisters, June and May, are no mere vehicles for Lily's salvation; they are individuals as fully imagined as the sweltering, kudzu-carpeted landscape that surrounds them * New York Times Book Review *
This is a wonderful book, by turns funny, sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris. * The Daily Telegraph *
Eccentric, inventive, and ultimately forgiving... a truly original Southern voice * Anita Shreve *
Sue Monk Kidd... Illuminates what is beautiful... THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is a gift, filled with hope * Luanne Rice *
This is the story of a young girl's journey toward healing, and of finding, at its end, not only wholeness, but the intrinsic sacredness of living in the world. I think it is simply wonderful * Anne Rivers Siddons *
A wonderfully written debut novel * Kirkus Reviews *
With imagination as lush and colorful as the American South, a clutch of deliciously eccentric characters, and vivid prose, Sue Monk Kidd creates a rich, maternal haven in a harsh world * Christina Schwarz *
As original as its title and rivetingly so... It is one of the most inventive books I have read in a long time, and utterly compelling... This book demands to be read again and again, for it is not so much the solving of the mystery that is compulsive, but the gentle, sensitive, humorous and intensely colourful creation of a world far from our own * Oxford Times *
Sue Monk Kidd has written a wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love * Connie May Fowler *
What a splendid novel! It's wonderfully thoughtful and sensitive and compulsively readable * Susan Isaacs *
Monk Kidd has created a narrative as skilful and sweet as a honeycomb. Uplifting and warm-hearted, this is a moving novel and Lily is a fascinating, funny and clever narrator * Literary Review *
An incredibly original and imaginative book with great charm and atmosphere * Glasgow Evening Times *
A wonderful modern fairy tale...a touching story with a memorable cast of characters * The Big Issue *
A hive's worth of appealing female characters, an off-beat plot and a lovely style... Deeply satisfying * Publishers Weekly *
A honey-sweet novel * Elle *
Superb * Woman & Home *
Maybe it is true that there are no perfect books, but I closed this one believing that I had found perfection. The language is never anything short of crystalline and inspired. The plotting is subtle and careful and exquisitely executed...The characters are lovable and deep-hearted, fully dimensional, never pat. The story endures long after the book is slipped back onto the shelf * Book magazine *
'Kidd's first novel is well placed, gentle and deeply moving' The Times * The Times *
'A personal favourite, one of those infectiously written books you can't get out of your mind...a lovely tale' Bookseller * Bookseller *
'A tale that's beautifully and movingly written' Buzz * Buzz *



Book Information
ISBN 9780747266839
Author Sue Monk Kidd
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Headline Review
Publisher Headline Publishing Group
Weight(grams) 269g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 130mm * 26mm