The Amazing Read March 28 - May 19
Join us in our fourth annual community-wide Amazing Read!

Sue Monk Kidd’s stunning bestselling debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, has enchanted critics and readers alike, bringing her literary renown and establishing her as one of the most popular writers working today. Taught widely now in colleges and high schools, The Secret Life of Bees is Southern storytelling at its finest and is fast becoming a modern classic. With more than 5.5 million copies in print, it has been translated into 23 languages, produced on stage in New York and made into the 2008 major motion picture.

The Secret Life of Bees is the story of Lily Owens, a fourteen year old girl who has shaped her life around one memory: the day her mother was killed. In the summer of 1964, Lily works on a peach farm until one day she and the housekeeper find themselves on the run from the law and Lily’s abusive father. Their flight takes them to Tiburon, South Carolina where they meet the trio of beekeeping sisters, the Boatwrights, who take them in. In her new world of bees and honey, surrounded by powerful and wise women, Lily journeys through painful secrets and betrayals, until she discovers the thing she has longed for most of all.

More about The Amazing Read Here!

Need discussion topics for your Book Club? Want to learn more about the author? Would you like to know about other books like this one? Are honey recipes of interest to you? Get the whole story on The Amazing Read 2011 right here!

The Amazing Read 2011 book selection is designed for audiences 13 and older with the intent to encourage discussion and build community around literature. The Amazing Read 2011 is made possible by the Friends of the Greenville County Library System. Additional books for the library’s collection provided by the Sara F. Thomas Foundation.

Did You Like the Book? Tell Us Here!

Have you read this year's Amazing Read book selection, The Secret Life of Bees? Are you planning on attending one of the programs on Civil Rights or honey farming? Join the discussion by taking the Amazing Read survey and sharing your thoughts on the book and the program series.