Tina’s review of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.
Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.
Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.
As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.
Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.
This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.
Sue Monk Kidd has done it again!! When I read The Secret Life of Bees, I knew that this was a book that I would never forget. When anyone asks me about any books that I would recommend, that would be the book I would tell them – until now. Now I have to include The Invention of Wings as well.
This story takes place in the early 1800’s in the deep South. It is the story of two girls, who although come from very different backgrounds, they are both consumed with one common goal – freedom. For Sarah, who is a wealthy & powerful plantation owner’s daughter, she seeks freedom from the suffocating discrimination of women that was common prior to the Women’s Right’s Movement. Women were expected to be the weaker sex, whose only desire should be to be a good wife and mother. Sarah, being the ambitious girl that she was, had much bigger dreams for herself. Dreams she struggled to grasp due to her gender. Hetty on the other hand, was raised as a slave, and dreamed of the freedom to sew like her mother and of being free from the bonds of slavery.
The girls come together on Sarah’s 11th birthday when Sarah receives Hetty as a “gift” of sorts, to be her personal maid. Sarah adamantly refuses, but is forced to accept Hetty as her maid. This story spans a 35 year period in the lives of both girls and follows both their fights toward a common goal
The Invention of Wings is beautifully written, with characters that will burn into your memory where they will remain. It is an often heart-breaking tale, that puts the horrors of slavery in our face where we see the in-humane treatment that the slaves suffered at the hands of their “owners” and society as a whole. There were times when getting though certain sections of the book made me sick to my stomach and brought tears to my eyes. When an author can bring that kind of raw emotion to the reader with her words, you know that this is a master of their craft.
I have to say that The Invention of Wings has gained a spot in my top 20 list of all the books I have ever read. Right along with The Secret Life of Bees. You can count on Sue Monk Kidd to provide an emotional roller-coaster of a story that will have you glued to your chair until the very last page. You can bet that I will recommend it to everyone in search of a book that they will never forget!
5 out of 5
This book is available from Viking Adult. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
