From the celebrated author of The Secret

Life of Bees, a #1 New York Times bestselling

novel about two unforgettable American

women.

Writing at the height of her narrativeand imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kiddpresents a masterpiece of hope, daring, thequest for freedom, and the desire to have avoice in the world.

Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urbanslave in early nineteenth century Charleston,yearns for life beyond the suffocating wallsthat enclose her within the wealthy Grimkehousehold. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah,has known from an early age she is meant todo something large in the world, but she ishemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion onSarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is givenownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be herhandmaid. We follow their remarkable journeysover the next thirty five years, as both strive for alife of their own, dramatically shaping each other’sdestinies and forming a complex relationshipmarked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and theuneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax,Handful will endure loss and sorrow, findingcourage and a sense of self in the process. Sarahwill experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequitedlove, and ostracism before leaving Charleston tofind her place alongside her fearless youngersister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in theabolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of SarahGrimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh outthe rich interior lives of all of her characters, bothreal and invented, including Handful’s cunningmother, Charlotte, who courts danger in hersearch for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumphof storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes ata devastating wound in American history,through women whose struggles for liberation,empowerment, and expression will leave noreader unmoved.

http://tinyurl.com/the-invention-of-wings