The Invention of Wings

A Novel

By: Sue Monk Kidd

Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Adepero Oduye, Sue Monk Kidd

Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent 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 - and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection.

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.

©2014 Sue Monk Kidd (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A remarkable novel that heightened my sense of what it meant to be a woman - slave or free... a conversation changer.” (Oprah Winfrey, O, The Oprah Magazine)

“Exhilarating...powerful...By humanizing these formidable women, The Invention of Wings furthers our essential understanding of what has happened among us as Americans - and why it still matters.” (The Washington Post)

“A textured masterpiece, quietly yet powerfully poking our consciences and our consciousness... leaves us feeling uplifted and hopeful.” (NPR)

Entertaining and Informative

Brilliant performance gives voice to a beautiful story. Heart wrenching and thought provoking tale of mothers and daughters and finding ones voice through adversity. I truly loved this story.

Important Literary Offering -Historical Fiction

This is a compelling story of several women and how a few of them eventually break from very stringent Charleston convention and laws that upheld slavery and bridled women. It is based upon a true story of very early abolitionist /feminist. As you will learn in the author's note at the end (which I loved as it tied it all together for me), Kidd did much research and kept this quote on her desk during the process: "History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart. We repeat history until we are able to make another's pain in the heart our own."

This is a different type of offering for Kidd, so if you think you are going to get another "Secret Lives of Bees" you aren't. Still, if you had the heart to love that book, please read this one and remind yourself, or find out, how we even got to the sixties, and where we are going now. It is huge that we are finally finding the strength to tell and hear these difficult stories. As much as I wish that slavery and the lack of women's rights were not a part of our history, they are. It is important that we look back, so that we can continue to move forward.

great book

I enjoyed this book very much. the fact that it was based on two sisters that really existed adds to the quality of the story.

An honor to read!

Enjoyed the voices of Sarah and Handful. Ms. Monk is a most esteemed writer, one is certain to enjoy. I thank her for allowing her talent of writing to come into my life. History well spoken into words....

Or race and women’s rights

Compelling book, looking at racism and its travesty and shame as well as the rights and equality demanded not only from the side of race, but also from the side of gender.

Slow To Start, but Gripping By the End

This book was slow to take off. I’m a Sue Monk Kidd fan so, I’ve experienced this before. And, just like before, the book took off and I couldn’t wait to see how it all unfolded.

The narrators were annoying at times as they really tried to get into those southern accents—might just be that I’m particular.

The story was gripping, gut wrenching, bittersweet and full of tenacity. I couldn’t imagine living a story like this, however, that’s exactly what Sue Monk Kidd provides—vivid imagery and story telling that put me right with the characters.

Great book

This book is so good !! I have had to listen many times because it is so interesting with different points

Incredible Storytelling

Excellent story and presentation was beautiful. Heartbreaking and inspiring. Sue Monk Kidd does it again. Loved hearing the historical research done for the book. Much appreciation for this effort. On to the next!

A Beautiful, thought provoking story

This was a beautiful story from beginning to end. Heart wrenching at times and heartwarming at others. Two hundred years later we are still trying to attain the same goals as Sarah and Nina…. Human equality. The narration was perfect. This will certainly become one of my favorites and having just finished I already miss them!

StoriesThat Need Telling

In the Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd explores more than one kind of slavery in 19th century Charleston, South Carolina. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an enslaved black woman and her owner Sarah Grimke depend on one another for protection , support, and eventually, friendship. For more than three decades, both women defy the rules set out for them and in the painful process endure humiliation, loss, and eventual empowerment.

Sarah and her sister Angelina are historical figures who contributed much to the Abolitionist and Women’s Rights movements. Hetty is fictional, but the realities of her status within the “Peculiar Institution” of slavery is well documented.

The shameful role of slavery in the context of United States history is still dismissed by those who still argue that slavery “wasn't really so bad” and “slaves were well treated for the most part.” It is time to accept the realities of who we are and who made us.

Stories like The Invention of Wings should have as wide an audience as possible.