num_pages: 302
description: Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
language: English
title: The Secret Life of Bees
titlecomplete: The Secret Life of Bees
characters: T. Ray Owens, August Boatwright, June Boatwright, Rosaleen, Lily Owens, May Boatwright
genres: Coming Of Age, Historical, Historical Fiction, Novels, Adult Fiction, Young Adult, Classics, Adult, Fiction, Contemporary
ratings_count: 1266337
places: South Carolina, The United States of America, Tiburon, South Carolina
awards: awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Longlist, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Book Sense Book of the Year Award
category: Paperback, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Lincoln Award, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Gateway Readers Award, awardedAt: 1230796800000
name: LovelyBooks Leserpreis
category: Allgemeine Literatur
publisher: Penguin Books