“Inspiring. Funny and sad.... These memorable characters take you in... By the time you finish the book, they will have given you some memories you'll keep for a long, long time. This is Kidd's first novel. I would like to meet more of the people who live in her imagination.”
--Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) “Incredibly original and imaginative.”
--Glasgow Evening Times (Scotland) “Wonderful debut novel... Poignant and compelling.”
--Star-Ledger, Newark NJ
“In this gem of a first novel, Sue Monk Kidd creates a charmed Southern place... Kidd uses the bee metaphor to craft a captivating story of self-discovery, shared pains and joys. Acclaimed for such insightful nonfiction as When the Heart Waits, Kidd the novelist promises to be equally noteworthy.”
--Virginia Quarterly Review
“A compelling read.”
--The Sunday Times, (South Africa)
“Lily is fresh and funny, a welcome addition to the pantheon of gutsy southern girls from Harper Lee's Scout to Kay Gibbons' Grace.”
--Carolina Book Review
“To reach the book's conclusion, you'll want to tear through the pages. Restrain yourself. The beautiful language and seamless unfolding of this well-written story deserve more. (It) merits sweet time and savoring.”
--Southern Living
“Endearingly original....Riveting. One of the most inventive books I have read in long time, and utterly compelling. This book demands to be read and read again.”
--The Oxford Times, England
“The Secret Life of Bees is a novel about our inner life and about our relationship to the divine and to the community around us. It seduces us into a world view that is iconoclastic and revolutionary... It is the author's deft way of attaching her simple story to deep, compelling themes that makes this a book worth reading.”
--The News and Record, Greensboro, NC
“A lushly written story about family and the power of women to overcome loss.”
--St Petersburg, Fl Times
“A splendid first work of fiction... A story of redemption, one that promises to fill some of the ‘holes life has gouged out of us’. ”
--Virginian Pilot (Norfolk)
“This is a wonderful book, by turns funny, sad, full of magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris.”
--The Daily Telegraph (London, England)
“The chapters... dance around the edges of ‘Magical Realism’, that blend of the fabulous and the ordinary that can invest a tale with a sense of wonderment, as is the case here.”
--Richmond Times-Dispatch
“A charmer... Richly descriptive and enthralling.... Kidd has an enviable facility with dialogue, conveying lilting, drawling language which practically drips off the page to a musical rhythm...This novel with its southern American setting, its focus on adolescence and female relationships and its musicality, seems part Fried Green Tomato, part Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, and oddly enough, part Flight of the Bumble-Bee. Well worth the read.”
--The Globe and Mail (Edmonton, Alberta Canada)
“A warm debut. An uplifting story.”
--Booklist
“A touching tale about mothers and daughters.”
--New York Daily News
“Superb rites-of-passage novel.”
--Woman and Home (England)
“Kidd's prose is vivid, vibrant and readable. (She) has woven an entire cast of notable characters, from feisty Rosaleen to the 'calendar sisters', May June and August.... An engaging read.”
--The Albany Herald
“The writing in the this book is just delicious... This story has all the sweetness of honey, but some of the sting of the bees, too.”
--Anderson Independent (South Carolina)
“Lily is a wonderfully petulant and self-absorbed adolescent, and Kidd deftly portrays her sense of injustice as it expands to accommodate broader social evils. At the same time the political aspects of Lily's growth never threaten to overwhelm the personal. The core of this story is Lily's search for a mother, and she finds one in a place she never expected.... She finds her Madonna in a woman named August Boatwright, the proprietor of a honey farm that's a harbor of quiet civility. 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.”
--The New York Times Book Review
“Lily Melissa Owens... the brave girl at the heart of this novel... frees her babysitter, a black maid who has been abused by several white men and put in jail for it, and the two of them follow Lily's instincts to safety. The Secret Life of Bees is one of those novels that leaves a reader more confident: Heck, if this kid could do it, so can I.”
--The Los Angeles Times Book Review
“A smooth-as-honey piece of Southern fiction filled with authentic insights... This is a book whose success lies in its finely crafted writing... It's lyrical narrative voice and comforting message are a honeyed delight.”
--Raleigh News and Observer
“Monk Kidd has created a narrative as skillful and sweet as a honeycomb. Uplifting and warm-hearted, this is a moving novel and Lily is a fascinating, funny and clever narrator.”
--Literary Review, (England)
“A moving first novel... Lily is an authentic and winning character and her story is compellingly told. The bees presage her journey toward self-acceptance, faith and freedom that is at the heart of this novel.”
--USA Today
“The Secret Life of Bees is one of those rare literary treasures- a warm, funny and original rites-of-passage novel. A brilliant and enchanting book.”
--Sainsbury Magazine, (England)
“A captivating new American voice with a powerful coming-of-age story.”
--The Bookseller Magazine (England)
“In the Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens is on a quest to learn the truth about her mother and herself. Kidd handles Lily's voice deftly. The preoccupations, the vulnerability and the neuroses of a young woman are spot on... A cast of well-drawn peripheral characters pepper the book. The snuff-chewing, overweight, to-the-point Rosaleen is delightful. August's deep spirituality, her security and her wisdom form a character that permeates the pages.”
--Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Simply a beautiful book... Gorgeous language... deeply layered metaphors... It offers beauty, mystery, and resolution all at the same time.”
--Nashville Scene
“An absolute joy to read.”
--Time Out New York
“Lovely writing and kind, vivid characters....Kidd dips a honeyed ladle into lessons of inequality, empowerment, and the healing nature of love and forgiveness. It's as if Kidd loaded up a take-home plate with treats, and you said, ‘Oh, I couldn't,’ and then scarfed it down in the car on the way home.”
--Entertainment Weekly
“The (characters') struggles and joys are moving, heart-warming and well-written.”
--The Winston-Salem Journal
“Beautifully told and wonderfully humorous.... A warm, deftly told story about a girl and her search for the truth.”
--San Antonio Times-Express “Populated with rich, believable characters and propelled by a swiftly paced plot, this debut novel is a cut above most coming-of-age tales. You’ll be glad you went along for the ride. Bottom line: Buzz-worthy.” --People Magazine “Inspiring. Sue Monk Kidd is a direct literary descendent of Carson McCullers.”
--The Baltimore Sun
“Kidd has written a triumphant coming-of-age novel that speaks to the universal need for love.”
--New Orleans Times-Picayune
“Charming, funny, moving. Sue Monk Kidd woos the reader with a story that whips together heat, violence, eccentricity, madness and the ingredients Faulkner made obligatory for Deep South literature, and threads them through with bee lore and the imagery associated with the Madonna. The healing properties of love and reconciliation power the emotional heart of this novel.”
--The London Times-
“The Secret Life of Bees is a powerful story about human failing, race relations, the wonder and wisdom of the everyday world and the secrets we carry deep within ourselves. Kidd's writing is sharp and descriptive. Before the first chapter had ended, I had recoiled, I had cried and I had laughed. I was also entranced, and knew I had to make the journey with Lily, her endearing caretaker Rosaleen and the marvelous Calendar sisters. Let us hope that Kidd has more stories to tell.”
--The State, Columbia, SC-
“There's a sweet new voice in the world of Southern fiction, and it would be wise to listen. The Secret Life of Bees is storytelling at its finest, but the layers run deep as we follow a South Carolina girl on a soul-transforming journey... The novel makes it clear that Kidd does possess all the elements that make the alchemy of storytelling possible. She adds to that mix humor and an understanding of human relationships, and the end result is something quite extraordinary. .... A dazzling fictional debut.”
--Bookpage Magazine, February 2002
“This is such a charming book that I can already see it as an Oprah choice, a best-seller, and even a movie with someone like Hilary Swank as 14-year-old Lily, in whose honest, troubled voice the story is told.”
--Philadelphia Inquirer
“A radiant first novel. Sue Monk Kidd says the world's a buzzing hive, and the only way to live in it is to help and be helped by others. “The Secret Life of Bees” is a winning tale.”
--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“A hive’s worth of appealing female characters, an off-beat plot and a lovely style... Deeply satisfying.”
--Publishers Weekly
“I found myself reading Sue Monk Kidd’s breathtaking first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, during a season of extraordinary sadness, a time of boundless ache, deep anxiety and creeping distrust. The headlines were all about terror and war. . . It was early morning, dark, when I cracked the spine. It was a far brighter day by the time I had finished.”
“Like Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Kent Haruf’s Plainsong, this book is about family and caretaking and blurring social lines, about eccentric kindness, swollen hearts and the artifacts of love. .. Goodness– what it is, what it looks like, who bestows it– is the frame within which this book is masterfully hung, the organizing principle behind this intimate, unpretentious and unsentimental work. ...”
“Maybe it’s true that there are no perfect books, but I closed this one believing that I had found perfection. The language is never anything short of crystalline and inspired. The plotting is subtle and careful and exquisitely executed, enabling Kidd not just to make her points about race and religion, but to tell a memorable story while she does it. The characters are lovable and deep-hearted, fully dimensional, never pat. The story endures long after the book is slipped back onto the shelf.”
--Book Magazine, Jan/Feb 2002
“A wonderfully written debut. . .”
--Kirkus Review-
“The stunning metaphors and realistic characters... (of) this sweeping debut novel... are so poignant that they will bring tears to your eyes.”
--Library Journal
