"The Secret Life of Bees", Sue Monk Kidd

"There is nothing perfect," August said from the door way. "There is only life"

Lily, a fourteen year old girl living in a small town with her father. They own a peach farm. Lily herself was brought up by her nanny, Rosaleen. Lily's mother died since she was four. A tragic incident that happened right before little Lily's eyes. However, this incident drew a blank in her memory. The story begins when Rosaleen, a black women who tried to register for voter's right in the town center. Rosaleen got into trouble with the white men in town with her stubbornness and fueling it was the white men's anger was a coloured biasness towards coloured being. She got thrown in jail, and Lily after a fall out with her dad, broke Rosaleen out of jail and together walked out of the town where she grew up. Their only destination was Tiburon, a town name on a piece of label stuck on a black Madonna doll left behind by her mother. As the pair makes their journey, Lily started her own journey of self discovery of life, and of her mothers.

In Tiburon, they met the calendar sisters, a family of bee keepers. August, the eldest, with June and May. It turns out, Lily's mother kept the label for a good reason. She was link closely to August. She had grown up with August and they remain closely knitted till the day she died. August kept bees and sold honey to sustain the family. Through the numerous bee keeping tasks, Lily self discovery progress, her attitude toward life changes and her tied with her mother strengthen.

The story has a lovely ending. This is a nice change from the fast moving novel I have been going through. It is also a story that my lovely will like. I read many alike from her bookshelf (most of them still unread by her!)