I finished reading The Secret Life of Bees in one night. Good story!

It seemed to me to be a cross between Fried Green Tomatoes and To Kill a Mockingbird. In fact, as I read, I questioned if the author wasn't inspired by Fried Green Tomatoes.

Fourteen year old Lily lost her mother when she was four to a tragic accident, one in which she's always felt guilty about.

She is raised by her mostly abusive father, T-Ray, and a black woman named Rosaleen. When Rosaleen stands up to three white men in their rural town while on the way to register to vote, she's promptly sent to jail.

Lily, who's had enough of T-Ray's ways, decides it's time to leave ... and takes Rosaleen with her. Lily leads Rosaleen to a town she only knows from something written on the back of a wooden cross that belonged to her mother.

In Tiburon, SC they meet 3 eccentric Black Lady's named May, June and August, who raise bees and make honey to sell under the label Black Madonna Honey. A label that has the same picture of a black Mary that is on her mother’s wooden cross.

I enjoyed the authors "voice" thinking it very apropos for the setting of 1964 in the south. I even laughed out loud at some of T-Ray's comments.

Comments like "Who do you think you are? Julius Shakespeare?" I suppose struck close to home being an avid reader as a child, with a father who was not.

Don't mistake this tale as another "white person saves the day" story simply because Lily starts off being the rescuer of Rosaleen. This is not the case, for in the end you will find it is Rosaleen and the three sisters who rescue Lily.

Anyway, I recommend it if you ever get the chance...