The Secret Life of Bees

I’m reading a book called, The Secret Life of Bees, and the opening paragraph had me hooked.

“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 zzzzzzzz that hummed along my skin. The way those bees flew, not even looking for a flower, just flying for the feel of the wind, split my heart down its seam.”

The imagery, the feelings, the storytelling, the poetry………….makes my heart sing.

Sue Monk Kidd then writes, “The bees came the summer of 1964, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit……….”. “Right now it’s enough to say that despite everything that happened that summer, I remain tender toward the bees.”

I love the word TENDER in that last sentence. As I’m nearing the end of the book, I realize that no other word could be used to describe the meaning of the bees in her life. I can’t tell you anymore about the book because it would spoil it. You must go on the journey with this girl.

One reviewer writes, “This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.”

I recommend that you read this book (even if you’re not a woman) and stick with throughout the first few chapters. You must go through the dark days to get to the light.