If you loved The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, you’ll be in heaven with Sue Monk Kidd’s new book, The Invention of Wings. The chapters alternate between two narrators. Sarah Grimke is an 11-year-old spunky girl growing up in early 19th century Charleston. Hetty “Handful” Grimke is her slave. When Sarah’s mother presented Handful as her birthday gift, Sarah faced her mother’s fury and refused to accept this “gift.” And there begins their relationship… up, down and all around. Here are the first few sentences to tempt you:
"There was a time in Africa that people could fly. Mauma told me this one night when I was ten years old. She said, “Handful, your granny-mauma saw it for herself. She say they flew on trees and clouds. She say they flew like blackbirds. When we came here, we left that magic behind… You don’t believe me? Where you think these shoulder blades of yours come from, girl?”
Sweet, sweet wings of words.
Bonus -- Handful and her mother are seamstresses so the description of fabric and clothes will slay you!
"There was a time in Africa that people could fly. Mauma told me this one night when I was ten years old. She said, “Handful, your granny-mauma saw it for herself. She say they flew on trees and clouds. She say they flew like blackbirds. When we came here, we left that magic behind… You don’t believe me? Where you think these shoulder blades of yours come from, girl?”
Sweet, sweet wings of words.
Bonus -- Handful and her mother are seamstresses so the description of fabric and clothes will slay you!
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