The Invention of Wings

This book was incredibly profound, well written, informative, entertaining, heart breaking and chock full of historical sad truths about slavery and what it took to start the process of taking a stand against slavery which was so clearly horrible and wrong; easily said now, yet then it wasn’t. Sarah and Angelina Grimkey had to take a stand that would define who they were and how true they could be to themselves and their conscience dispute the consequences. They became infamously known and forbidden to go home, so really they gave up everything they had ever known to do what they did. It’s so mind blowing and powerful and incredible it made me think- Wow, people can do the most amazing things no matter what, as long as the sacrifice is worth it to them, and in this case, Sarah and Angelina were selfless and are heroes to me! Thank you Sue Monk Kidd for bringing this beautiful and courageous story to life; I truly benefited and am inspired to take a stand for the things in my life that are difficult yet important. I recommend this book to anyone who: loves Historical Fiction, like I do; is a Woman; might be a little racist and struggles with Black Lives Matter and such movements and to remember why these issues are issues that he or she can fully understand or want to understand. I get it; I myself am a White privileged female who doesn’t like to think about what slaves and Blacks went through, but in reading this book my eyes were opened and my heart softened and I’m saddened at my own inconsiderate attitude. No longer. I have been sensitized. Thank You Sue!

The invention of wings - Absolutely Superp and Delightful I think it is a beautiful, well-written and touching book. It brings us close to the atrocities of slavery in a time when both women and slaves had no rights and no voice at all. Although the atrocities are there since they are part of the characters’ lives, they are not the center of the plot. In a family where slave cruelty was commonplace, an abolitionist child, Sarah, flourishes and will go through an ordeal not only to respect her beliefs but also to fight for them. The same happens to her younger sister Nina who, as Sarah's goddaughter, not only takes after her in her position before the world and its injustices, but is bolder and moves from words to actions more promptly. Sarah's life is entwined with the life of the slave she receives as a gift on her 11th birthday, Hetty Handful, to whose freedom she feels committed. The author has a wonderful way with the words and delights us with precious paragraphs that unveil the insights of these three girls on their way towards womanhood. It's amazing how she outlines the accomplishments of the two sisters who had to break with their origin within an aristocratic family, and everything brought along with it, in their pursue to be true to themselves, becoming the two first female abolition agents in America. “Sarah the first woman in America to write a comprehensive feminist manifesto and Nina the first woman in the United States to speak before a legislative body” as the author stated. Two historical women wonderfully depicted by Mrs. Monk Kidd. The story of three women who found their ways to voice themselves, and I felt privileged to have been led by Mrs. Kidd into following their steps. The way the relationship between Sarah and the slave Hetty Handful develops did not meet my initial expectations but now I am sure it could not have been different in the 1800’s. In fact, this sensation did not affect neither my appreciation of the book nor the impact it had on me. On the contrary, it rather challenged me into trying to understand both the time when they lived in and the magnitude of their attitudes. The bond and intimacy possible back then between a slave and a white person were determined by rules and laws instead of their feelings. Although the two girls struggled to go beyond these boundaries I had the sensation that it could have gone deeper and that a lot more was kept inside in many situations. I loved the way the author made me see how deeply the relationship impacted on one another in spite of the distance imposed by the rules, as well as understand the extent and importance of actions that seemed so little at first in many passages of the plot. Following the path of these two brave women in their fight against slavery and for women's rights, and the slave's endurance to preserve her inner freedom, was a rich and enlightening experience provided by an inspiring, worth-reading book that combines rich fiction and a story based on true characters that are historical figures.

This is a carefully researched, historical fiction about two sisters that are real and were abolitionists and feminists. The story is also about a real, actual, African American slave associated with the sisters. Most of the details about the slave, "Handful" are lost to history. Sue Monk Kidd wrote a novel about their lives and the people and events with which they were associated. The novel itself is very good. At the end of the novel is an author's note in which she detailed what parts of the book were fiction, etc... I really appreciated that and was glad I waited until the end of the book to read it. This this book is a combination of excellent fiction and is still very educational. I read this book on Kindle. I have, what I refer to as, a "flawed inner narrator". Therefore I often spend extra money and purchase the accompanying audiobook. I did so in this case and was very glad I did. The audiobook is really excellent. The novel is constructed around the first person narration of two females protagonists. One is a free white lady named Sarah Grimke who is an actual historical figure. The second lady, as described below, is also a real, actual person, however, lamentably, there is little real historical information about her. The second lady is an enslaved African American lady named "Handful". According to the author there was such a lady, but very little is known about her. There are descriptions of "punishments" (torture) of various African Americans that can only be described as ghastly. While the exact story depicted here is fiction, the acts are drawn from actual histories of slavery. In that context the novel is similar to "Uncle Tom's Cabin". In any event, the Audiobook has two narrators. They switch back and forth as the novel switches scenes between the two protagonists. Both narrators are really excellent. In the novel Miss Grimke has a speech impediment and her narrator represents that in such a way that really moved me, but would have mostly been lost to my own flawed inner narrator. In the event that a reader enjoys the format of this book, with two female protagonist narrators, I happened to read another book like that, "Girls Like Us" by Gail Giles, that I enjoyed very much. It is a far different story, but the format is the same. That audiobook was also excellent. I am somewhat embarrassed to confess that I was unfamiliar with Sarah Monk Kidd. The reason I read this book was because it was a book club selection. I am now going to research the author and select another work of hers to read. Thank You...

An astonishingly gripping, enthralling and enchanting read A novel so powerful, it took my breath away What an insight into South American in the 1800s, a savage chapter In History so well told, it made me wince n cry with disbelief and subsequent relief that it is all over Did it all really happen? Were the so called coloured people only 3/4th human? How could the taking away of a child from her mother to never seeing her again and hearing of her death years later, being lashed for learning the alphabet, flogging and branding a mother in front of the child while she looks on helpless be justified, the basic rights to human life denied to the negros, and why just them'? The restrictions that killed the aspirations and ambition of thousands of white women in South America, the laws which prohibited them to express their opinion and views, take up a profession or even get educated at the same level as men be thought of as the will of God? Did bible really preach that slavery is the way of life? Unputdownable. What an inspirational story of two strong willed women who fought all odds to make their voice heard in a society where women were shushed for so long that they didn't know their voices existed The author has woven fictional as well as non-fictional events intricately together perfectly preserving the reality and adding twists and turns which are in perfect tandem with the story, maintaining the pace very well. Words fall short in describing the beauty of this compelling narrative.

One of the most powerful books that I've read lately. It drew me into a world of horrors where owning slaves and cruelty were synonymous. It brings to light the under current of southern mentality that has not totally disappeared, ....just gone under the skin and appears subtly when no one is looking! Horrifying but riveting to the very end.

Oh my goodness, where will I find the right words to do this incredible book justice! We are barely into 2014 and I know that this will be one of my top, if not my top read of the year. When I was just twelve, I read Sue Monk Kidd's bestselling The Secret Life of Bees and if that was able to touch me as much as it did then, you can imagine how much I was affected by her outstanding latest novel, The Invention of Wings, twelve years later. Told in the viewpoints of Handful and Sarah, we learn of how two courageous women's lives were led in South America throughout the 1800's. Handful is a slave and at just eleven, Sarah becomes Handful's unwilling owner. Although Handful is the true prisoner, Sarah is also trapped in her own life; a girl who had dreams to become a judge, but having them knocked aside because of her gender; Sarah does not see her place in the world. The reader will have more sympathy and compassion for Handful with her view of being a slave, and the horrors that the slaves were put through, and not once did my feelings waver for Handful. I desperately wanted her to be free. As for Sarah I lost my compassion for her when she got older, but not long after, the Sarah she was as a child came back and my faith in her returned. Sue brilliantly depicts the topics of slavery and also the suppression of women. Although the two are polar opposites in their atrocity and unjustness, both are examined very well in this story. There are shocking contrasts between Sarah's and Handful's worlds and as a reader I was deeply affected and appalled by the treatment of slaves in the nineteenth century. You can tell from reading just how much work and research the author had put into this and Sue's way of writing never fails to amaze me. She writes so beautifully and I personally think she is one of the best writers around. She has such a unique way of describing things that are words come alive off the page and you will feel as if you are journeying with these two women. The fact that Sue has drawn upon the real life of Sarah Grimke and her sister, makes this novel all the more powerful. Towards the end, my heart was literally in my mouth and pounding so fast. I felt like I had been with both these women their whole lives and had grown to know and love them, so the ending was difficult reading. A truly powerful, heart wrenching, stunning novel. This is THE read of 2014!

Questo libro sembra seriamente basato su personaggi reali e, almeno in parte (l'embrione di progetto di sollevazione), su fatti realmente accaduti. Esso descrive con finezza psicologica le secolari barriere del pregiudizio di cui era prigioniera un'intera società, pur tra le più attive nello sviluppo del costituzionalismo, le inevitabili sfaccettature all'interno di essa, l'eroismo di coloro che per primi, anticipando i tempi, vi si opposero, le sofferenze di generazioni di vittime, in uno stillicidio di episodi oscuri, non registrati dalla storia. Ben scritto, utile per chi vuole esercitarsi in inglese/americano senza sottoporsi a noiosi percorsi didattici. Lo schema resta quello, per me vincente a dispetto delle resipiscenze manzoniane, del romanzo storico. Nel finale, c'è pure la suspense, unica concessione, forse, ai facili effetti, ma non guasta e fa davvero palpitare. A mio sommesso avviso, un capolavoro.

Bei der Suche nach einem historischen Roman, der in den Südstaaten des 19. Jahrhunderts spielt, stieß ich auf diesen Roman und meine Erwartungen wurden weit übertroffen! Die Autorin schreibt einen ungewöhnlich guten Stil, mit dem es ihr gelingt eine einzigartige Atmosphäre zu erzeugen. Auch die Idee der wechselnden Perspektive - im Wechsel die Sicht eines Sklavenmädchens und einer Plantagenbesitzerstochter - ist eindruckvoll ausgearbeitet. Während die Geschichte der Sara interessant ist, war für mich v.a. die Schilderungen des Lebens der Sklavin Hetty und ihrer Mutter beeindruckend und fesselnd. Der Autorin gelingt es ein einfühlsames und eindrucksvolles Bild dieser Zeit zu zeichnen.Sehr empfehlenswert!