Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret Life of Bees

This is a review by Barbara Simpson:
This story is set in the deep south of America in the early 1960's when the civil rights movement was really taking off. Lily lives with her harsh, unforgiving father on a peach farm and is raised by their black servant, Rosaleen. Lilys mum died when Lily was 4 years old, she was shot and killed in a freak accident, and she feels responsible for her death.
When Lily is 14 years old the 'Blacks' got the right to vote, provided they could sign their name. Rosaleen goes into town to vote but gets insulted & goaded by a group of white men and she ends up badly beaten in hospital. Lily gets her out and they run away together. All Lily has with her are her treasured few possessions, reminders of her mother. In these possessions is a label from a honey farm in South Georgia, this draws them to the place. Lily and Rosaleen stay on the farm which is run by the black, calendar sisters, May, June and August.
Lily discovers there is a link with her mother and the farm and gradually learns about her past and bee keeping.
I absolutely loved this book. It is a superb story, beautifully written and full of atmosphere. You also learn so much about bees and beekeeping throughout the book. It was an absolute sheer delight and I can't wait to see the film.

Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret Life of Bees

REview by show host:
Set in the early 1960’s in South Carolina. Lily lives with her dad T Ray, on a peach farm, where she believes she has bees coming into her room at night. Lily has a nanny Rosaleen, to look after her as her mum died when Lily was 4yrs old – Lily shot her accidentally. It happened the day her mum and dad were arguing, her mum was packing her bag & leaving, leaving her dad. Lily is unloved and lives with the guilt of what she did that day. Lily has 2 precious momento’s of her mum which she keeps hidden from T Ray – T Ray would be very mad if he found them & would take his anger out on her.
Things start to happen when Rosaleen goes to town to vote, its the first time black americans have ever been allowed to vote, but the whites don’t want it. When Rosaleen is put in jail and beaten Lily comes to the rescue and they go on the run. Where will they go? Tibrun, the name on the back of Lily’s precious momento, the one with the black Madonna on the back.
They find solace and shelter on a bee farm run by 3 black sisters the eldest of whom take Lily under their wing and Lily discovers more than she bargained for.
Its an engaging, gentle, story set at the beginning of black rights & Martin Luther King. It’s a little slow in parts and it all ends rather happily ever after.
However, Its amazing what you find out about the life of bees

Sue Monk Kidd - THE INVENTION OF WINGS

Review written and read live on the bookshow by Corinna christopher on 5th June 2014

This book begins in 1803 and follows the lives of two girls into women, neither following the path prescribed for them.

Sarah Grimke was the daughter of Judge John – a Southern patriot, slaveholder and an aristocrat.  At the age of 10 she was given a personal slave Hetty (known as Handful) .  We are drawn into the daily hard lives of Handful and her mother who is a gifted seamstress and had embarked upon an amazing quilt depicting their life story with black blackbirds wings interspersed throughout.  Handful also became a gifted sewer, learnt to read and had an independent attitude which got her into trouble at times.

Sarah was a clever girl and hoped to be a lawyer but her father was only prepared to encourage the sons in the family.  She had all along the feeling that slaves should be released and freed from their servitude but of course Charleston where she lived was very much in favour of the Status Quo unlike their compatriots in the North.  Late in life her mother gave birth to another daughter Nina and accepting the role of godmother Sarah took on the role of raising her.  Nina turned out to be beautiful and strongly opinionated

Sarah unable to cope with the restraints of home left to live in Philadelphia as a tutor to a family of girls and also became a probationer Quaker.  There she was eventually joined by Nina where they spearheaded an anti-slavery project.  Always good at expressing her ideas Sarah wrote letters and pamphlets, one being “An Epistle to the clergy of the Southern States and An Appeal to the Christian women of the South.  She was taken on by an abolitionist organisation headed by Theodore and embarked upon a lecture tour of many states.  Nina married this Theodore and Sarah went to live with them and their children.

This is quite a complex book with many threads but is fascinating and informative. Sarah throughout her life experienced crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, loneliness, self doubt and ostracism.  

This story was found by the author and is based on facts.  The Grimke sisters were the first female abolitionist agents and earliest female feminist thinkers.  They were famous and broke from family, religion and homeland, becoming exiles and eventually pariahs in Charleston.

This is a moving tale of slavery and those who lived in its grip.  There were engaging characters and powerful events highlighting the culture of inequality on many levels.

Thought provoking and a great read.  The author also wrote the best seller “The secret life of bees”

New Years Eve show 2009

What was your favourite book of 2009 and least favourite? That was the question I put to my guests (Maggie Perkovic, Ro Bennett & Babs Simpson) and the listeners. Also visitors & possibly a local or two, logged their favourites throughout the year. So here's what my guests had to say:
Ro's favourite: Janet Evanovitch - Finger Lickin 15. Ro loves the humour of her books and looks forward to the next year when the follow on comes along.
Ro's least favourite: Susan Hill - The Beacon. The story was boring, the characters easily forgetable and the plot? It left Ro wondering what was that about?

Masggie's favourite: The Great Lover by Jill Dawson: Maggie loves this era early 1900's, and really enjoyed reading about Rupert Brooke, who was held up as a glamorous romantic poet,(see her review on this blog).
Maggie's least favourite: Jacky Trevane - Invisible women: Maggie enjoyed the first book 'Fatwa' but didn't enjoy this one as she felt it was just cashing in on other peoples tales.

Bab's favourite: Markus Zusak - The Book Thief: Death is a brilliant character in this very unusual book. It is beautifully written and set in the WW2 era which Babs loves. But on a par was 'Guernsey Potato Peel Pie and Literary Society' written by Annie Barrows & Mary Ann Shaffer. Again set in 1940's during WW2 it told of the German Occupation of Guernsey through letters.
Bab's least favourite: Victoria Hislop - The Return: Babs loved the Island (based on a Cretan leper colony) but this book set during the Spanish civil war was a disappointment. I felt that I was reading an article from an encyclopaedia and the story around it was dull and predictable. I had to agree with Babs on this one!
Some listeners comments:
Steve Watt: Best Book - undoubtedly 'Wolf Hall' by Hilary Mantel A brilliant historical novel but I have to put a word in for Cormac McArthy's 'Border Trilogy' (see reviews in this blog). As for the worst I only managed the first three pages of 'The Lost Symbol' by Dan Brown - admirably and accurately described by the Guardian as 'a steaming pile of clunk.'

Ellie: best & worst both by same author Stephanie Meyer. Best, 'Eclipse', because it had a lot of action and bit of gore. Worst, 'New Moon',because nothing much happened in it.
Win Grant: Best book Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall
Toby (St Martins Bakery): Jose Saramago - Blindness

Here's what the visitors said:
BOOK, AUTHOR & COMMENTS

Paul Torday - Salmon fishing in the Yemen: excellent read, unusual, reminds me of tv series 'yes misister'

Dodie Smith - I capture the Castle: My favourite book ever! Especially the bit with the escaped bear on the train

Jo Verity - Sweets From Morocco:I wrote it!

Edwar Cummings - Ghosts of Rosevear: Very interesting - and a good read too based on an island off St Agnes

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime: About autisitic boy sometimes amusing & shocking, a real insight

Thomas Bloor - Worm in the Blood: Wonderful love story that shouldn't work but really does make me cry

Tom Rob-Smith - child 44: Gripping crime novel set in Stalinist Russia. Realistic and ultimately haunting

Ian Sansom - The Case of the Missing Books: Quicrky & humourus novel about a Jewish librarian who takes up a job in Ireland only to find all the books missing

John Connelly - Bad Men: Spooky crime thriller set on an island off the coast of Maine USA

Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret Life of Bees A wonderful story out of nowhere which sends you on a roller coaster of emotions but end up feel good. Set at the start of the 1960's civil rights movement.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 100 years of Solitude a complex & involving story of one family in South America. It slowly tells a potted history of the continent as seen through eccentric eyes.

Terry Pratchett - Unseen Academicals: Brilliant!

Stephanie Meyer - Twilight Saga: NEVER a fan of romance, but enjoyed Twilight! Currently curbing my obsession!

My favourite? Chris Cleave 'The Other Hand', it really made me stop and think differently about some of the plights of immigrants held in detention centres.
Worst: Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst: boring & dull and I didn't care what happened to the characters (who were they anyway?).
Happy New Year to all! (definition of a hangover: Wrath of Grapes!)