#48 - The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Lily lives with the memory of accidentally killing her mother when she was 4. But she doesn't know the whole story. In the summer of 1964, she learns the whole truth, and as the saying goes....the truth shall set you free.

I enjoyed this book. Kidd's writing style is easy to read and her mixture of humor and serious topics keeps this book from being just another trite tome on child abuse and racism in the south.

In the beginning Lily is weak and scared of everything, but by the end of this novel she is a very strong young woman who has learned a lot about the world and her place in it.

This book doesn't leave you with a depressed feeling as some tales of 1960's southern issues do....it leaves the reader with a sense of hope. Kidd weaves her story around facts about bees and beekeepers. Her writing style is light and airy, despite the fact that the story delves into very serious issues.

This book is a quick read, and an enjoyable story with moral and ethical meaning. It has a moral point, without dropping into preachiness or melodrama.

50 Book Challenge 2007: 28/50