What a fantastic novel!I cannot believe that this was Sue Monk Kidd's first. Don't give up just because the book is a little slow in the beginning, believe me, you don't want to miss this. The start of the novel is mainly exposition. You get to know the main character, Lily Owens, really well, as well as her caretaker, Rosaleen, and her father, T-Ray Owens. You begin to understand Lily's situation. She has no mother, Rosaleen, an unusual black woman, becomes her caretaker, and her father is absolutely horrendous towards her. She lives on a little peach farm, and has to struggle with the mystery of her past every day. The real story starts when Rosaleen goes to town in order to register herself to vote. This novel has a very unusual genre. It is part mystery, tragedy, romance, comedy, but because it is a mixture of all these genres it makes it very compatible for many different people. I highly suggest this book. It is one of my favorite books, and just because you are afraid of bees, don't be afraid of the title.

14 year old Lily Owens runs away from home with her Black nanny, Rosaleen, stands up for her right to vote. The story is set in the South in the early sixties. Rosaleen is the only mother Lily has, since her real mother died when Lily was four. The two run away to Tiburon, South Carolina on the hunch that Lily's mother, who had written the city name on the back of a photo of the Black Madonna, had once lived there. After arriving in Tiburon, Lily spots the Black Madonna on a jar of honey in a store. Lily goes to the beekeeper's house and is taken in by a family of three Black sisters. Lily becomes an apprentice beekeeper under the guidance of August, the head of the household. The story not only has a pro-female storyline, but contains the background story of the Black Madonna, a symbol of the sacred feminine in Europe.

I absolutely loved this book, I am still looking for something to read that can even come close to this. I started reading it at a vacation rental, and took the book home with me, I am buying new copy to take back next year, everyone should get to read this book, and they can't have my (stolen)copy.

Sue Monk Kidd describes in a very nice way the racial problems and the situation in the South in general. It is a very moving novel written in a beautiful language.

Not on my favorites list... plodding and dull... couldn't find anyone interested enough to pass it on to....