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The Secret Life of Bees The secret's out. Sue Monk Kidd's debut novel The Secret Life of Bees is a hit. When my mother handed me a copy of the New York Times Bestseller, I laughed. Who wants to read about a bunch of bees, right? I flipped the book over and read, "The tale of one motherless daughter's discovery of what family really means." I decided I'd rather read about bees. I don't remember why I opened the book a few weeks later, and was surprised when I couldn't put it down. Set in South Carolina in 1964, the novel is about Lily Owens, a fourteen-year-old girl who has struggled to grow up without her mother. Rosaleen, a strong black woman, has done her best to take her mother's place. After Rosaleen insults three extreme racists and is thrown in jail, she and Lily escape to Tiburon, South Carolina in search of her mother's story. There, three beekeeping sisters take them in to form a kind of family Lily had never imagined. I was surprised to find the book to be inspiring, and not just about a bunch of bees. The emotional story of a young girl trying to find herself, combined with the mystery of her mother's death, will keep females of all ages reading. The Secret Life of Bees, a novel about the power of love and the places you'll find it, is sure to be passed from mother to daughter for years to come.