There is a deep and raw kind of desperation that few of us have had the misfortune to experience.
It is all-encompassing, soaking its venom into every aspect of your life, a constant, slow burning underneath your skin.
The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd, is a testament to just what is required to survive this depth of helplessness.
The courage, intelligence, physical and emotional strength necessary to plod through challenge after challenge and the belly-deep fire that allows you to re-shape your existence.
BOOK REVIEW: Setting and Story
Set in early 19th Century Charleston, The Invention of Wings is a sweeping historical fiction peppered with the incredible events of real-life people.
The story is written from the point of view of two very different women, both struggling against the constraints of society.
Handful is born into slavery in the Grimke house, one of the wealthiest families in Charleston. At the age of 10, Handful is pulled from the workyard, wiped down, adorned with lavender ribbons and given to 11 year-old Sarah Grimke as a birthday present.
Through the story Handful suffers incredible injustices. One particular event that will stay with me forever was a punishment served out for the poultry ‘crime’ of attending a church service. Rather than her ‘owners’ paying her fine, she was sent to a workhouse where her foot was badly maimed. She walked with a cane for the remainder of her life.
Handful finds strength and a sense of escape in the quilt stories of her ancestors. The tales of how they grew wings and flew to freedom, dancing in her mind. Her defiance shifting fluidly from restrained petulance to outright rebelliousness.
After witnessing the violence the family’s slaves were subjected to as a very small child, Sarah Grimke is against slavery even at as a child and tries in vain to decline the gift of Handful.
But as a young girl she has very little power over her own life. Something she has in common with Handful, although in very different ways.
Sarah travels an often heartbreaking journey littered by slammed doors to find her place, her voice and her purpose. She finds false allies along the way and ultimately breaks the bounds of Charleston society, religion, tradition and more to plot her own brave path.
Themes and Reality
The story seamlessly weaves through themes of slavery and abolition, women’s rights and religion.
Like all of my favourite historical fiction novels it includes real characters and occurrences of our history including arguably the most radical feminist thinkers and abolition agents out of the American south, sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimke.
The story also includes Denmark Vesey, a ‘free black’ and leaders of African Americans in South Carolina. In 1822, he was convicted of being the leader of ‘the rising’, a potentially major slave revolt. He purchased his own freedom after winning the lottery at age 32.
It was amazing seeing the tension and fire of this revolt build from the points of view of both Handful and Sarah.
It was an honour to see each of the women invent their own wings!
Author, Sue Monk Kidd’s, ability to build emotion throughout the story and allow you to live in the mind of these incredible women is uncanny.
The Author
Sue Monk Kidd is probably best known for her incredibly successful first novel, The Secret Life of Bees (2002) which sold more than 6 million copies in the United States alone.
Born in Georgia, Sue’s early career was as a registered nurse, although as an avid reader she was influenced by Thomas Merton.
Other fiction works include The Mermaid Chair (2005) and Firstlight (2006).
Want more?
Listen or read an excerpt of The Invention of Wings here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/296241/the-invention-of-wings-by-sue-monk-kidd/
Find out more about Sue Monk Kidd here: https://suemonkkidd.com/
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