The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

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Description

Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire life around one devastating, blurred memory--the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-hearted, and sometimes just... read more

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Summary

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Cast of Characters/Important People

Lily Owens: 14 year old girl
T. Ray Owens: Lily's father
Rosaleen: Lily's African-American nanny
August Boatwright: Sister to May and June. African-American. Beekeeper
June Boatwright: Sister to August and May. African-American. Beekeeper
May Boatwright: Sister to June and August. African-American. Beekeeper
Zachary Taylor: African-American teenager. Works for the sisters with their beekeeping business

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Memorable Quotes

“'I was gonna say, The problem is they know what matters, but they don't choose it. You know how hard that is, Lily? I love May, but it was still so hard to choose Carribbean Pink. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.'”
August
“"What about vomit in a sink? They teach a charming way to do that?"”
Rosaleen
“"You see, everybody needs a God who looks like them, Lily."”
August
“I can tell you this much: the world is a great big log thrown on the fires of love.”
““There is nothing perfect,” August said from the doorway. “There is only life.””

First Sentence

At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound, a high-pitched zzzzzz that hummed along my skin.

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