the secret life of bees-report

Michaela Rabinov
1-8-08

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
By Sue Monk Kidd

This is the story of a girl named Lily, growing up in South Carolina, in 1964. At the age of four, Lily’s mother left. She is not exactly sure what happened, but she just knows that her mother was gone. Since that day she has lived on the peach farm with her ill-tempered father whom she doesn't love, and the house keeper, a black woman named Rosaleen who is as much of a mother figure as the has.
Lily has wondered about who her mother was for her entire life. The only things that she has to connect her to her are, a pair of white gloves, and a picture of a black Mary, glued to a piece of polished wood, with the words Tiburon, S.C. on the back. Lily has promised herself that one day she will visit Tiburon and all the other places that her mother had ever been.
After many horrible events dealing with her father and other racists in the town, Lily runs away with Rosalee to Tiburon. There, they meet three beekeeping sisters who Lily suspects knew her mother and also are the makers of the honey with the black Mary on it, the same black Mary as the picture that Lily has. Lily and Rosalee stay with the sisters, and during this time, Lily enters her teenage years, experiences love, and starts to find herself.


This story is about a girl, who in the quest to find out about her mother’s past, ends up going on a quest to find herself. This story delves into the hardships of the teenage mind, between love that probably wont work, parental problems, and life, Sue Monk Kidd explains that when searching for something, you might come upon something completely different and incredible. I would recommend this book to anyone.