Fourteen year old Lily Owens lives with her abusive redneck father on a peach farm in South Carolina. After an incident she goes on the run with her black nanny and sets up residence with black bee-keeping, madonna worshipping, calendar girls (May, June and August Boatwright). Motherless Lily finds a whole bunch of mother substitutes and as well discovers that the mother is deep within herself (yuck!). Sue Monk Kidd set this novel against the backdrop of civil rights unrest in the mid-sixties. The book got a lot of buzz and it seems most people read it long ago but I had to wait for it to appear at the Book Depot (everything shows up there eventually). Did I like it? It is a very girly book meant to appeal to the sisterhood and sometimes is as cloyingly sweet as the honey the bees produce. Oprah would love it: child abuse, racism, motherlessness, female mysticism, secrets, trust, the triumph of good over evil, all her favourite themes are present. Some reviewers say they were moved to tears by it, I wasn't but then I'm a nasty, narrow-minded jade. I'm not sorry I read it but it's certainly not a keeper, I'll pass it on to my son's girlfriend.
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