Last Updated: 26 September, 2020
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This book came highly recommended by several people, but I’ve had this book so long that I can’t remember where I got it from, however I can tell it is definitely second hand because it looks like it has been dropped in the bath!
The book follows Lily a fourteen year old girl living in South Caroline with her father. Lily does not receive much affection from her father and believes she was responsible for her mother’s death ten years earlier. After an argument with her father Lily runs away along with her black servant, Rosaleen, after a racial beating of Rosaleen in the local town. Lily’s only plan is to go to the town written on the back of a picture she found in the attic. Their path takes them to the home of three beekeeping women where they take sanctuary and start developing a new (if temporary) life as they wait for the law and Lily’s father to find them.
As this book was highly recommended by many people I was really looking forward to reading it. I found it an enjoyable read, but I did not find it the fantastic read that other people did. In fact I found it a bit insipid as I didn’t feel any of the characters were hugely memorable and didn’t find the events moving or too surprising. However, I found it interesting to read this book straight after Cane River as it progressed the story of black people in America.
August 2007
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Well, that’s a book I’ve got on my list to read and I’m glad I came across your review here. I’ll downgrade it slightly, although I still intend to read it. Thanks, Dan.
I am not much of a wide reader but I definitely enjoy reading (especially books that have unpredictable plot..). Judging from the cover of the book, it gives me the impression that plot will later unravel a lot about the beekeepers and how they affect the child’s life as well as her servant’s. You also mention that this book has something to do with American black people. This part of the story is intriguing. I have always interested in racial discrimination. I don’t know if you have read ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’..that was just a brilliant piece of literature..I sympathize… Read more »