Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens who has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four. She not only has her own memory of holding the gun, but her father's account of the event. Now fourteen, she yeams for her mother, and for forgiveness. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her father, she has only one friend: Rosaleen, a black servant whose sharp exterior hides a tender heart. South Carolina in the sixties is a place where segregation is still considered a cause worth fighting for. When Rosaleen insults three of the town's fiercest racists and is arrested and beaten, Lily is compelled to act. Fugitives from justice and from Lily's harsh and unyielding father, they follow a trail left by the woman who died ten years before. Finding sanctuary in the home of three eccentric black beekeeping sisters, Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world and the transforming power of love, as about the mystery surrounding her mother. Author: Sue Monk Kidd. (374 pages)
Level: 2nd and 3rd year of the Gymnasium