― Sue Monk Kidd, The Mermaid Chair
I found it hard to put down the story at times as the heroine grappled with the tension of desire and the struggle to deny it, and her eventual surrender to it. Kidd writes the story with beautiful imagery, weaving together unforgettable characters and a compelling plot that keeps you turning the page.
In the end, we learn about the hard path to finding one’s true self, of letting go and of forgiveness.
About the Author
Sue Monk Kidd is a writer, novelist and memoirist. She was born in Albany, Georgia, and raised in the tiny town of Sylvester, Georgia.When her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees was published by Viking in 2002, it became a genuine literary phenomenon. The novel tells the story of fourteen year old Lily, who runs away with her black housekeeper in 1964 in South Carolina, and of the sanctuary they find in the home of three beekeeping sisters. The Secret Life of Bees has sold more than 6 million copies, spent over 2 ½ years on the New York Times bestseller list and been published in 35 countries.
Sue’s second novel, The Mermaid Chair, has sold nearly 2 million copies since its publication by Viking in the Spring of 2005.
Firstlight, a collection of the author’s early writings, was released by Guideposts Books in 2006 and Penguin in 2007. A compilation of inspirational stories, spiritual essays, and meditations, it has been translated into several languages and has over 200,000 copies in print.
Sue’s newest book, Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story, co-authored with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor debuted September 8, 2009, appearing on numerous bestseller lists, including the New York Times Bestseller List
Sue’s website features some timeless insights on her writing. Her pearls of wisdom include:
- The quality of a writer’s work directly correlates to how much the writer pays attention.
- The single most important question a novelist should ask is: “What does my character want?” That thing will then become the driving force of the book.
- “The well springs of the creative life are deep inside each of us” — therefore, we must “tap” into that river.
- “It’s not the first thing I think of that works magic, but the third.” — find the third thing.
- Allow yourself to write badly – “Perfectionism kills the spirit of writing faster than anything I know of.”
I read “The Secret Life of Bees” last summer and I liked it. Based on your review here, I assume this would be a good book for me also. Thanks for recommending this book, I’ll look up for it.
Watch out for inviting recommendations from those of us on Blogathon that are authors!
I did it on purpose to see what I might get back! I am particularly fond of historical fiction and YA books.
Loved The Secret Life of Bees. Not so enamored of Mermaid Chair. But different strokes, right?
Keep on blogging!
If I could communicate one statement to the author, whose “Secret Life Of Bees” was an infinitely more charming book that did not groan under the weight of its preternaturally overburdened excesses and trite ambitions, it would be this: There are probably few protagonists less involving, sympathetic, and interesting than whiny, self-aggrandizing, navel-gazing narcissists.