The Secret Life of Bees

The multi-million-copy-bestselling novel about a young girl's journey towards healing and the transforming power of love, from the award-winning author of The Invention of Wings.
Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black 'stand-in mother', Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina - a town that holds the secret to her mother's past.

Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey. And there Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world as about the mystery surrounding her mother.
'A wonderful book, by turns sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris' Daily Telegraph
'Charming, funny, moving' The Times

'Wonderfully written, powerful, poignant...read it' Joanna Trollope
What readers are saying about The Secret Life of Bees:

'One of the most poignant and heart tugging books I have ever read' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars

'Emotional and heart-breaking, yet full of hope and love. I laughed and cried equally through the book. This wonderful book will stay with me for a long time to come' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars

'One of the best books I've read in a while. Touching, well-written, beautiful, full of expression, insightful' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

'A beautifully written masterpiece. I loved the writing, the descriptions, the humour sprinkled through the story. There was sadness and love, hope and forgiveness. I highly recommend this book' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

I am amazed that this moving, original, and accomplished book is a first novel. It is wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous, and takes a line which is - refreshingly - strongly female without being cliche-feminist. It is also deliciously eccentric, which lifts it out of the usual category of a rite-of-passage novel into the realms of real distinction. Do read it Joanna Trollope