"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" (Anne Rivers Siddons)
"Sue Monk Kidd's eccentric,
inventive, and ultimately forgiving novel is reminiscent of the
work of Reynolds Price in its ability to create a truly original
Southern voice." (Anita Shreve)
"I am amazed that this moving,
original, and accomplished book is a first novel. It is
wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous, and takes
a line which is -- refreshingly -- strongly female without being
cliché-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." (Joanna Trollope)
"What a splendid novel! It's
wonderfully thoughtful and sensitive and compulsively
readable." (Susan Isaacs)
"The Secret Life of Bees is a
novel of love and almost unbelievable courage, the quest of one
young girl in search of her mother and so much more. Sue Monk
Kidd takes on huge things, and by writing about what is
mysterious, even difficult, in life, illuminates what is
beautiful. She proves that a family can be found where you least
expect it--maybe not under your own roof, but in that magical
place where you find love. The Secret Life of Bees is a
gift, filled with hope." (Luanne Rice, author of Dream
Country)
"Writing with the intimate
voice of the memoirist and with the Southerner's abiding sense
of place, Sue Monk Kidd has written a forgiving story for the
motherless child in all of us." (Shelby Hearon)
"Sue Monk Kidd has written a
wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent
power of love, all the while masterfully illuminating the
feminine face of God." (Connie May Fowler)
"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." (Christina Schwarz)
"Sue Monk Kidd is an
extraordinary storyteller. In "The Secret Life of
Bees," she explores a young girl's search for the truth
about her mother; her courage to tear down racial barriers; and
her joy as she claims her place within a community of women.
Beautifully written." (Ursula Hegi, author of The Vision
of Emma Blau)
