The Invention of Wings in Our Shared Shelf

Sep 19, 2014 Lindi rated it really liked it

Shelves: grown-up-books, cultural-competency, about-writing

Before reading The Invention of Wings I could have said yes, I'd heard of Sarah and Angelina Grimke and that I thought they had something to do with abolition or women's suffrage or something like that, but that's about it. Thank you, Ms Kidd, for bringing their contributions to light. Okay sure, this is fiction, but the bones of fact are there.

The characters all feel authentic, from major ones like Sarah and Handful and secondary folks like Isaac and Denmark Vesey, to the minor characters. Hand ...more

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Feb 01, 2015 treehugger rated it really liked it

Shelves: popular_lit, oprah, history, southern, online-chpl, read_2015

This was a great book. Compelling and enthralling. Un-put-downable. The voices of the characters shone through in a very real way - I think Kidd was pretty darn masterful with their voices. Why I haven't given it 5 stars, I'm not sure...but for me, it's a solid 4-4.5 stars. The fact that it was based on significant research into the actual history of Charleston and the actual abolitionist Sarah Grimke actually adds a LOT of weight to the descriptions and the characters for me (while understandin ...more

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Feb 25, 2016 Alejandra rated it really liked it

A very engaging and approachable introduction to the life of the Grimke sisters. Early abolitionists and feminists, it was fascinating to see their path from growing up in a rich Southern plantation owning family, to challenging all conventions on the time, even for radical standards. I liked how the author included notes at the end highlighting how the novel differed from fact. I also enjoyed the use of the two narrators, providing strong point of views from both sides of the fence, although I ...more

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