Last night I finished The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. Kidd has become a spiritual leader in my own search for truth.
S.L.B. is the story of Lily, a young white girl living in South Carolina during the heated racial summer of 1964. 1964 was the year of the Civil Right Act and of serious racial unrest, particularly in the South. Lily (a funny name for a white girl, considering the backdrop of the book) allies herself with a black woman named Rosaleen, and the two go in search of family. Well, at any rate, Lily goes in search of a Mother.
Kidd's books that I've read, both this one and Dance of the Dissident Daughter (linked on the side bar), deal with a woman's search for a Feminine Divine. In S.L.B., Lily is searching for answers to the mystery behind her mother's life and death. However, in her literal search, she discovers a wealth of figurative Mothers, including the Mother Mary in a way I've never considered Her. Kidd intertwines race, religion and family into an intricate braid that makes for fascinating reading. Read it slowly--there's more in the 302 pages than you expect.
"When you're unsure of yourself...when you start pulling back into doubt and small living, she's the one inside saying, 'Get up from there and live like the glorious girl you are.'" --August Boatwright on the power of Mary
The Secret Life of Bees