The Invention of Wings

I am a big Sue Monk Kidd fan (loved The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair) so I was very happy when the notice came from the library that my hold was finally in. I proceeded to gobble up this book in short order, and I was not disappointed. What I didn't know until I reached the end notes was that the main characters were actual people.

Kidd tells the story of Sarah and Angelina (Nina) Grimke, two Charleston sisters of the early 19th century who find slavery so abhorrent that they head north, become Quakers, and are two of the most outspoken abolitionists and feminists of the time. In order to personalize the story a bit, Kidd creates Handful/Hetty, the slave Sarah's parents give her on her 12th birthday to be her waiting maid. The novel alternates telling the story from Sarah's and Handful's point-of-view, and it's a very effective way of really sending the message about the evils of slavery, and also of showing the complexities of the relationships between slaveholders and their slaves.

This is a beautifully told story with rich, interesting characters and a message that resonates across the centuries. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Invention of Wings