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The Secret Life of Bees

The stunning multi-million bestselling novel about a young girl's journey; poignant, uplifting and unforgettable

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The Secret Life of Bees

By: Sue Monk Kidd
Narrated by: Jenna Lamia
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About this listen

 Don't miss the extraordinary new novel from Sue Monk Kidd, The Book of Longings - published on 21st April 2020, and available to pre-order now.

Sue Monk Kidd's internationally bestselling first novel THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES has delighted many millions of readers around the world. 'Charming, funny, moving' The Times; 'A wonderful book, by turns sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris' Daily Telegraph

Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four. She not only has her own memory of holding the gun, but her father's account of the event. Now fourteen, she yearns for her mother, and for forgiveness. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her father, she has only one friend: Rosaleen, a black servant whose sharp exterior hides a tender heart. South Carolina in the sixties is a place where segregation is still considered a cause worth fighting for.

When racial tension explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is compelled to act. Fugitives from justice and from Lily's harsh and unyielding father, they 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.

(P)2008 Penguin Audio©2002 Sue Monk Kidd African American Coming of Age Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction United States World Literature Fiction Heartfelt Feel-Good Thought-Provoking Funny

Critic 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
Charming, funny, moving and unmistakeably from the American South... a story that whips together heat, violence, eccentricity, madness and the Gothic
This is a wonderful book, by turns funny, sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris.
Eccentric, inventive, and ultimately forgiving... a truly original Southern voice
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
Sue Monk Kidd... Illuminates what is beautiful... THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is a gift, filled with hope
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
A wonderfully written debut novel
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
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
Sue Monk Kidd has written a wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love
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
What a splendid novel! It's wonderfully thoughtful and sensitive and compulsively readable
An incredibly original and imaginative book with great charm and atmosphere
A wonderful modern fairy tale...a touching story with a memorable cast of characters
A hive's worth of appealing female characters, an off-beat plot and a lovely style... Deeply satisfying
A honey-sweet novel
Superb
All stars
Most relevant
I loved this story from start to finish. I also loved the reading from the narrator, it was very unique and brought me at times all the way to South Carolina.

Beautiful story beautifully told

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A story of a young motherless girl who has to live with the terrible knowledge that she accidentally killed her mother. She lives with a brutal father and is cared for by the loving Rosalee. It's a beautiful story about courage and love, set in the southern states of America at the time of the civil rights campaigns.

The narrator is perfect for this story and reminds me of a young Sissy Spacek.

I loved it

A beautiful and heartwarming story.

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I'd never heard of this book before I chose it and was looking for something different.
I was pleasantly surprised by the whe thing. Wonderful characters with a storyline that touches your heart.

Beautifully written .

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I loved this book great storyline and the performance was appropriate to the story. Definitely recommend it as a nice easy read. Not too taxing

Good read, good performance

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I enjoyed this book although found it slow moving. It was well written, interesting and, at times, very moving. I think I preferred this to 'The Invention of Wings' although both were good. The characters were intriguing. I felt sad that one leopard didn't change their spots though!

Slow moving but well written and enjoyable

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