The Secret Life of Bees
Living
on a farm in South Carolina in 1964
with her cruel, unyielding father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire
life around
one devastating, blurred memory -the afternoon her mother died when
Lily was
four. To make matters worse, her father, T.Ray, tells Lily that she was
the one
who accidentally killed her mother. Her only real companion at home has
been
the fierce, black woman Rosaleen, who acts as her mother. When Rosaleen
attempts to exercise her newly won right to vote, she is attacked by
the three
worst racists in town and is thrown into jail. Lily is determined to
save
Rosaleen and finally escape her own father as well. Seizing the moment,
she
springs Rosaleen from jail, and the two se out across South Carolina in
search
of a new life. With little direction, Lily leads Rosaleen to Tiburon,
South
Carolina on a hunt to find information about her mother.
There they are taken in by an eccentric trio
of black beekeeping sisters named May, June and August. Lily thinks of
them as
the calendar sisters and enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees
and
honey. "Lily is fresh and funny, a welcome addition to the pantheon of
gutsy southern girls..."-
Carolina Book Review.