The year is 1964, the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The South is an unpredictable and dangerous place to be. Rosaleen, housekeeper for the Owens family, goes to vote for the first time and gets into a bit of trouble. Lily, the 14-year-old Owens daughter, decides to come along as Rosaleen heads out of town, desperate not to get caught.
Lily’s life has not been easy either. Her father is abusive, taking out his private pain on her. She carries a pain of her own – years before, she accidentally killed her mother. This knowledge haunts her and follows her everywhere she goes. Why not go with Rosaleen? Things couldn’t get worse than they already were.
While looking through her mother’s things, Lily finds a picture of a black Madonna, with the words “Tiburon, S.C.” on the back. She can’t figure out why such a thing was precious to her mother, but she decides to find out. With nothing but luck on their side, she and Rosaleen head out to South Carolina.
Through a series of unexpected events, Lily discovers that the black Madonna is the logo for a honey company, and she and Rosaleen head off to find the owners, three older women who take them in and give them a home, putting them to work with the bees. Beekeeping is slow, methodical work. You must move very carefully to avoid frightening the bees, and Lily finds that while she’s working, she has the chance to think about her life. She feels safe for the first time, but questions continue to rise in her mind, until she learns the whole story about her mother.
This book is skillfully written. I could almost feel the humidity of the South while reading it and hear the humming of the bees. A first novel for Sue Monk Kidd and the finest of her subsequent books, it sets the bar for other first time novelists.
(This book was published in 2003 by Penguin Books)
