The Invention of Wings

From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a #1 New York Times bestselling novel about two unforgettable American women. Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world. 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.

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400 pages

Average rating: 7.97

267 RATINGS

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11 REVIEWS

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Community Reviews

Judy Rader
Sep 15, 2023
6/10 stars
I enjoyed the characters in this book, but I enjoyed "The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom better.
Anonymous
Jul 11, 2023
6/10 stars
I really enjoyed this book through the first half but was left waiting for something other than life to happen until close to the end when I couldn’t put the book down.
KikiStoneCreek
Jun 03, 2023
8/10 stars
I didn't realize until the end of the book that it was based on real history. A compelling read that was hard for me to put down. I highly recommend this book!
Tina86
Mar 13, 2023
7/10 stars
The author writes so beautifully and full of fantastic imagery. A really beautiful story of women becoming of age and rebellion in the 1800s
Xine
Feb 23, 2023
8/10 stars
This isn't the first book of Sue Monk Kidd's that I have read and it won't be my last. She is so thorough in her research of a subject that she is able to capture its essence and deliver it on the paper in the form of well crafted characters and plots.
As Sue Monk Kidd explains in her author's note that it was her desire to write a story revolving around two sisters and the universe lead her to learn about Sarah Grimke and her younger sister, Angelina and what a story she wrote! The first of the two narrators, Sarah Grimke, is the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and judge. Sarah is not fictional and was one of the early abolitionists and women's right activists.
The stories of Charlotte and Handful are a gut-wrenching reminder of a very ugly part of our history and are told by Handful, a young slave girl given to Sarah as a birthday gift on her 11th birthday. The story spans 35 years of their lives from childhood well into their adulthood. Kidd includes the good, the bad and the ugly, other its in the situation or in her characters - making the reader care deeply for them.
I highly recommend 4.5






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