The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I usually find Oprah's book club picks to be, well, *too* much…too depressing, too literary, too pretentious, ect.  So I approached this book, Oprah's 2.0 book club selection, with trepidation.  I have read and loved all of Sue Monk Kidd's previous novels so I gave it a go, and I was so glad I did!!!

First, I absolutely love a novel told in alternating points of view.  We get one chapter told from Sarah's point and the next from the slave Hetty's point….LOVE!!!  Second, a fiction book about real people is a big plus for me.  Anytime I can learn about real people within fiction is a win, I get to learn something while enjoying an amazing story.  Also, I LOVED these women…they were spunky and flawed and heroic…I want my kids (both daughters and sons) to know that women are capable of amazing things, so inspiring.  Read this, you won't be disappointed.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Inspired by the true story of early-nineteenth-century abolitionist and suffragist Sarah Grimké, Kidd paints a moving portrait of two women inextricably linked by the horrors of slavery. Sarah, daughter of a wealthy South Carolina plantation owner, exhibits an independent spirit and strong belief in the equality of all. Thwarted from her dreams of becoming a lawyer, she struggles throughout life to find an outlet for her convictions. Handful, a slave in the Grimké household, displays a sharp intellect and brave, rebellious disposition. She maintains a compliant exterior, while planning for a brighter future. Told in first person, the chapters alternate between the two main characters’ perspectives, as we follow their unlikely friendship (characterized by both respect and resentment) from childhood to middle age. While their pain and struggle cannot be equated, both women strive to be set free—Sarah from the bonds of patriarchy and Southern bigotry, and Handful from the inhuman bonds of slavery. Kidd is a master storyteller, and, with smooth and graceful prose, she immerses the reader in the lives of these fascinating women as they navigate religion, family drama, slave revolts, and the abolitionist movement. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Beginning with her phenomenally successful debut, The Secret Life of Bees (2002), Kidd’s novels have found an intense readership among library patrons, who will be eager to get their hands on her latest one. --Kerri Price