Just found this book in a Charity shop this afternoon. I have seen the film, so I want to read the book. This copy is a promotional edition from Woman&Home magazine. Registering it ready for reading. Plan to read and release.

What you have here is an uplifting coming of age story. The author takes us on an emotional rollercoaster journey with Lily and her surrogate mother Rosaleen on her search for her deceased mother. A challenge which I this the author approaches with a fairly realistic way. There is good contrast between the harsh realities of Lily’s life and times (in 1960s South Carolina, along the race divide) contrasted with the magic of love, friendship and bee keeping. Makes for a fascinating, thought provoking and inspiring story. The author has managed to craft a range of authentic characters, with just the right mix of faults and good points. I really loved confused runaway Lily. The relationships she forms with the Sisters and Zachary are beautiful and for her life changing.

I know I have seen the filmed version of this many years ago. And now I really need to see it again. I think it did affect my visions of the characters (who I believe are quite different in appearance in the book from the film).

Here are a few nuggets of the book I especially enjoyed:

P127 “Because when they looked at her, it occurred to them for the first time in their lives that what’s divine can come in dark skin. You see, everybody needs a God who looks like them.”
P139 “I would Remember him tearing into me, shouting Jesus H. Christ, Jesus H. Christ! The worst slap across the face I ever got was when I interrupted him to ask just what did the H. stand for anyway?”

Packing up tonight to post to a fellow BookCrosser (tomorrow) who is in Greece! Safe travels little books. Hope you delight and amaze your new reader(s), just like you did me!

The package with books I received from you made my day! They are all safe with me including The secret life of bees .Thank you so much!

I picked this book up at the monthly meet-up of May in Larisa, Greece. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks!

Such an interesting book! I really enoyed it!

Στη σημερινή συνάντηση του Σεπτεμβρίου έκανα catch το βιβλίου αυτό.

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
An amazimg book!!!!

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