The Invention of Wings
As Sue Monk Kidd was finishing work on her last novel, she was searching for an idea for her next project. She knew she wanted to write about two sisters, and she found them when she ran across Sarah and Angelina (Nina) Grimke, two early proponents of abolition and women's rights. They were among the first women to fight for women's suffrage and certainly among the first Southern white aristocrats in favor of freeing the slaves.
But Kidd is a novelist, not a historian. She read about Hettie Handful Grinke who was given to Sarah Grinke as a birthday present. Handful became a lifelong friend in the novel. The real Hettie died shortly after that birthday. Hettie's mother is a major character in the story. Charlotte is the old Mistress's seamstress. She's also working on a quilt that details her history as a slave, and she's the mistress of Denmark Vesey, whom you Civil War fanatics know led a major slave revolt. Hettie stole a bullet mold for Vesey.
Sarah hates slavery, and she finds her salvation in Quakerism, which leads to her move to the North. Her little sister Nina stays behind, but her mother is driving her crazy. Nina is just as strong willed as Sarah, and she refuses to be confirmed in the Southern church, presumably Anglicanism in this case. Sarah raised Nina; Nina sees her as more of a mother than her real one, and she eventually joins Sarah in the North. One of Sarah's major disappointments as a child was being told by her father and favorite brother, Thomas, that she could never become a lawyer, her major ambition at the time. Once she moved to the North, that ambition changed to the Quaker ministry. In the novel she has a suitor, a widower who wants her to drop the ministry ambition and become a mother to his children. She refuses. In real life, it seems Sarah felt the marriage would interfere with her ambition to become a minister. Meanwhile the sisters are raising hell in the Quaker church. The Quaker leaders want them to pull back on the abolition scenario. Nina writes a letter to William Lloyd Garrison's the LIBERATOR which leads to them being asked to leave the church.
But Theodore Weld, a famous abolitionist who had made a pact with John Greenleaf Whittier to never marry until the slaves were emancipated, breaks the pact when he meets the beautiful Nina whom he'd come to compliment on her letter. Nina refuses to let Sarah go and asks her to live with them.
Among the first to take up women's rights, along with abolition of the slaves, the Grimke sisters resisted efforts by Weld, Whittier and others to concentrate on abolition. As early agitators the Grimke sisters were ahead of the Quakers when it came to freedom for the slaves and ahead of many of the early proponents of equal rights for women. They even tried to vote. They deserve more attention in our history books.
But Kidd is a novelist, not a historian. She read about Hettie Handful Grinke who was given to Sarah Grinke as a birthday present. Handful became a lifelong friend in the novel. The real Hettie died shortly after that birthday. Hettie's mother is a major character in the story. Charlotte is the old Mistress's seamstress. She's also working on a quilt that details her history as a slave, and she's the mistress of Denmark Vesey, whom you Civil War fanatics know led a major slave revolt. Hettie stole a bullet mold for Vesey.
Sarah hates slavery, and she finds her salvation in Quakerism, which leads to her move to the North. Her little sister Nina stays behind, but her mother is driving her crazy. Nina is just as strong willed as Sarah, and she refuses to be confirmed in the Southern church, presumably Anglicanism in this case. Sarah raised Nina; Nina sees her as more of a mother than her real one, and she eventually joins Sarah in the North. One of Sarah's major disappointments as a child was being told by her father and favorite brother, Thomas, that she could never become a lawyer, her major ambition at the time. Once she moved to the North, that ambition changed to the Quaker ministry. In the novel she has a suitor, a widower who wants her to drop the ministry ambition and become a mother to his children. She refuses. In real life, it seems Sarah felt the marriage would interfere with her ambition to become a minister. Meanwhile the sisters are raising hell in the Quaker church. The Quaker leaders want them to pull back on the abolition scenario. Nina writes a letter to William Lloyd Garrison's the LIBERATOR which leads to them being asked to leave the church.
But Theodore Weld, a famous abolitionist who had made a pact with John Greenleaf Whittier to never marry until the slaves were emancipated, breaks the pact when he meets the beautiful Nina whom he'd come to compliment on her letter. Nina refuses to let Sarah go and asks her to live with them.
Among the first to take up women's rights, along with abolition of the slaves, the Grimke sisters resisted efforts by Weld, Whittier and others to concentrate on abolition. As early agitators the Grimke sisters were ahead of the Quakers when it came to freedom for the slaves and ahead of many of the early proponents of equal rights for women. They even tried to vote. They deserve more attention in our history books.
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