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The Invention of Wings: A Novel
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The Invention of Wings: A Novel
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The Invention of Wings: A Novel
Audiobook13 hours

The Invention of Wings: A Novel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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About this audiobook

From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women

Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world--and it is now the newest Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection.

Hetty "Handful" Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke's daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd's sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah's eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other's destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women's rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful's cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 7, 2014
ISBN9780698151833
Unavailable
The Invention of Wings: A Novel

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Reviews for The Invention of Wings

Rating: 4.1789049471064095 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sarah Grimke has never been in step with her slave owning family. As an adult, she became a well-known speaker for abolition. Based on the true stories of Sarah and Angelina Grimke, who worked for abolition and women's rights in the early 1800's.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the way historical fiction should be done. The novel is perfect for book clubs leaving readers wanting to talk to someone about the injustices in history and the injustices today. I felt outraged with the treatment of slaves and then realized how these same themes are still in society today with the rights of LGBT, immigrants, and the evils of society such as child trafficking and the treatment of those in poverty. The characters in the novel left me thinking of the invention of my wings and my life's purpose. It is a wonderfully crafted story about two women and how they impact each other and history.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I didn’t realise while reading this that it was based on real people, that Sarah Grimke was one of the leaders of the anti-slavery movement in the US (I am not from the US). The two main characters are Sarah, a white women in a slave-owning family in the South of the US, and Handful, a slave girl given to her on her eleventh birthday. Sarah’s life is constrained by the society she grows up in, but she comes to realise that is nothing compared to what Handful has to survive. This was a moving and horrifying history lesson.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review – but OMG was I excited when I did receive it because it’s an Oprah’s Book pick and I read alllll of her choices!The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd is the kind of book that makes you want to be a better person.The newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 pick is incredibly moving. The story is told in dual narrative, following Sarah Grimke and a slave named Hetty “Handful” Grimke in the 1800s.Sarah is given Hetty as a gift for her eleventh birthday, and even at that young age, Sarah believes that slavery is immoral. But Sarah is caught in the Charleston upper class lifestyle and is useless in making a change. So she rebels the way she can, giving Hetty the freedom of literacy.Sarah evolves, trying to turn into someone she wants to be: a strong, independent woman, but her dreams are pushed down by everyone, including her family.Only when Sarah leaves the comforts of the South does she truly begin to understand the power that individual voices can have.At the same time, Hetty changes from young, rebellious slave girl to becoming a strong, still rebellious, woman.For the full review, visit
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Equally horrifying and uplifting to see slavery from the eyes of women slaves and a famous slave-owner who became a strong voice against slavery. While it overlooks the fact that there were black slave owners in the South, the story tells a compelling argument against slavery from various points of view and maintains much historical accuracy.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I picked up this book after just visiting Charleston South Carolina and so much of the setting was familiar that it was rather spooky. This story centers around two characters Sarah Grimke, the daughter of a jurist and slave owner and Hetty "Handful" Grimke a slave. On Sarah's 11th birthday, her mother presents her with Hetty as her own slave. Sarah does not want a slave and tries to give her back. When her mother refuses, she attempts to give Hetty her freedom. This sets the tone of the book. We learn about Handful and her mother as well as the other slaves through stories from Handful's perstpective. Handful and her mother "Mauma", fellow house slaves (Aunt Sister, Goodis, Tomfry, Binah etc.) seem to have life a little easier than the plantation slaves as they fear being sent there to work. They still have it extremely rough and what they endure is difficult for Sarah and Nina to accept. Sarah and her sister Angelina (Nina) abhor slavery, yet love their family. They eventually both end up in the North, become Quakers, and later abolitionists. This story is based on the true story of the Grimke sisters as well as other well known abolitionists. I wish their story was more well known, as I had never heard of the Grimke sisters before. A must read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent book. The author richly follows the lives of two girls who grow up on a southern plantation. One is the daughter of the plantation owner, the other was given to her as a slave when she was 11. As they grow up, one wishes to be free and the other tries to free her. Based on the true story of Sarah Grimke, a woman who "was destined to do big things," Sue Monk Kidd weave a beautiful tale filled with betrayal, remorse, unrequited love, and a complicated relationship between Sarah and Hetty.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story takes place in Charleston, SC, beginning in the early 1800's. The Grimke's are a wealthy and respected family. Father is a judge and mother runs the house as she births many many children. They are also, of course, slave owners. When Mary Grimpke turns ten, she is given her very own slave girl, Handful. Even at this tender age, Sarah doesn't want a slave because it's wrong. Handful is to wait on Sarah's every desire and need. She will sleep on the floor outside Sarah's room in case Sarah has a need during the night. For some reason Sarah knows this wrong and tries to give Handful back. This is not allowed and they become good friends. Sarah breaks the law by teaching Handful to read. When mama learns this, they are both severely punished. The lives of Sarah, Handful and much younger sister Angelina is chronicled through their entire lives throughout the book. As expected, the treatment of the slaves is heart wrenching. In real life the Grimke girls went against everything the family stood for. They are known in history as abolitionists and were even banned from returning to Charlestown. The story is based on fact and you will recognize some of the historical references. It is a wonderful read. I see a good movie here.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had a couple of problems with this book. I felt that the writing was fine, but not stellar, and the characterization somewhat flat. The other thing is that I often have trouble reading books in which real historical people are characters. It is frustrating for me not to know what is real and what is imagined. Kidd does have an afterward that gives this information, and for the most part the book seems to be historically accurate. This book features Sarah and Angelina Grimke, who were sisters from a slave-owning family in Charleston. Sarah was born in 1873. The Grimke story is amazing. The sisters became abolitionists and feminists, became Quakers, moved North, and worked with William Lloyd Garrison. Kidd's story focuses on Sarah, beginning in her childhood, and alternates chapters with the story of Hetty, or Handful, a slave who had been given to Sarah on her 11th birthday. Apparently, Sarah Grimke was given a slave named Hetty as a young girl, but the real life Hetty died in childhood. Kidd does do a really good describing what was like for both enslaved people and for slave-owners at that time and place. She shows the little (and not so little) ways that the enslaved people resisted their situation. She also shows how even abolitionists and Quakers had limits in their "progressiveness." The Grimke sisters often ran across Quakers who wanted to end slavery, but not quite yet; and who were scandalized by the Grimke's belief that their should be equality between blacks and whites. Also, their feminism often got them into trouble.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A beautifully written story about slavery in the 1800's, trading chapter for chapter between Sarah Grimke and her handmaid/slave Hettie/Handful. The story begins when Sarah, a young daughter to slave owners in Charleston, South Carolina, witnesses a slave being whipped. The horror stays with her and molds who she is to become. She is shortly thereafter horrified when she is given Hettie for her 11th birthday, but her parents will not let her refuse the "gift". Sarah and Hettie become something of friends over the years with Sarah doing what she can to help Hettie and the other slaves, including teaching Hettie to read: a criminal offense for which they are both punished once discovered. The book spans nearly their entire lives following Sarah in her real life quest to not just free the slaves but make them equals, all while fighting the fact that she, as a woman, is not seen as an equal. And Hettie/Handful doing what she can to fight for her own freedom all the while being severely punished for any and all infractions. The story, a fictional take on the true story of Sarah Grimke and her sister Angelina, as they become the most famous women in history at that time for their work for the abolitionist movement and by default, the women's rights movement. I did not realize the truth to this story until the author's notes at the end. I highly recommend this fascinating, yet horrifying, tale of one of the lowest points in human history.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastically vivid and captivating!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this because it was one of Oprah’s Book Club picks and I needed it for my Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. I was SO glad I picked this one, because it was amazing. I’ve read Sue Monk Kidd before and loved it, and this one was no exception. It is based on historical figure Sarah Grimke and how she fought for slaves’ and women’s rights. The narrative was told from her point of view, as well as the point of view of Handful, a slave the Grimke family owned. I’m usually not into historical fiction but this way beautifully done and inspired further research on my part.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I'd give this higher than a 5 star rating if I could, it's that good.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This story is about two girls, both who are trapped within lives they cannot change (slave, unmarried woman) but who grow into inspirational and extraordinary friends.I did not realize that Sarah and her sister, Nina, were real people until I read the author's note. A clever weaving of fact and fiction by the author!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Historical fiction. These 2 abolitionist sisters really existed. I had not heard of them before until this book. I like at the end how the author goes over information about the sisters and what the author changed for the book and what was not. It was a nice history lesson. For people interested in a story, it was a good story as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A decent read. I liked that it was historical fiction. While it was interesting to follow both a white woman and African American woman during their lives, it might have been more interesting if the author had delved more deeply into their adult lives. The novel was really Sarah's, with Handful/Hetty's life getting much less attention. I would have liked a little more equal treatment since the beginning of the book led me to believe that it would be that way.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I think I felt every emotion possible reading this book. I will forever remember it as one of the most endearing reads I've ever come across. Sue Monk Kidd nailed it with each character and enticed me to research further into the life of the Grimke sisters and the history of that location and time period. Definitely a recommended read for anyone.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had never heard of the Grimke sisters. One of the reasons I like to read historical fiction, particularly novels about women, is to find out about some of the amazing people whose mark on this world is becoming diminished, or forgotten. I especially like when a novelist makes it very clear what is fact, and what is fiction. Sue Monk Kidd does this, and more, in The Invention of Wings. The part of Handful was completely fictional, but it added a dimension to the story that I treasured reading. Handful's narratives, and her perspective, was my favorite part of the novel.

    Kidd ends the book, in the Author's Note section, with the following quote: "History is not just facts and events. HIstory is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another's pain in the heart our own." Something very prescient, considering recent events in Charleston (the initial meetings of the founding AME Church members makes an appearance in the book).

    The Grimke sisters sound like an amazing duo, and this book spurred me to learn more about their life, and their writing. Revolutionaries of their time, they fought for complete emancipation, as well as both complete racial and gender equality. They were legends in their time, and stretched the boundaries of a woman's public role. They were one of the first abolitionists to recognize the connection between abolition and women's rights.

    Rather than summarize this superb novel which brings Sue Monk Kidd back to form (I loved Secret Life of Bees and despised The Mermaid Chair), I'll leave you with a few quotes from the Grimke sisters themselves.

    "I appeal to you, my friends, as mothers; Are you willing to enslave your children? You start back with horror and indignation at such a question. But why, if slavery is not wrong to those upon whom it is imposed? Why, if as has often been said, slaves are happier than their masters, freedom from the cares and perplexities of providing for themselves and their families? why not place your children in the way of being supported without your having the trouble to provide for them, ore they for themselves? Do you not perceive that as soon as this golden rule of action is applied to yourselves that you involuntarily shrink from the test; as soon as your actions are weighed in this balance of the sanctuary that you are found wanting?

    Angelina Grimke, Appeal to the Christian Women of the Southern States

    "I ask no favors for my sex. I surrender not our claim to equality. All I ask of our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks, and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God designed us to occupy."

    "I know nothing of man's rights, or woman's rights; human rights are all that I recognize."

    "I am persuaded that the rights of woman, like the rights of slaves, need only be examined to be understood and asserted."

    Sarah Grimke, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and Condition of Woman
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Probably one of my favorite books that I have read this year! The juxtaposition between the life of a high society plantation owners daughter and one of her slaves is engaging and complex. Both characters draw you in to their lives but shows the boundaries of racism and sexism during pre-Civil War times. A must read!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was just better than OK.

    This book is about slaves in the south during the mid 1800's. It is sad and it is sometimes brutal. It amazes me how anyone that is put in these positions can remain hopeful. Some of them didn't, I suppose, which even makes me sadder.

    I really liked that each chapter is told by a different character in the book. For me, it makes getting to know the characters more meaningful.

    I didn't like the ending. I will not say what or how it ended for fear of spoiling it for anyone.



  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love that this novel was inspired by real people in history. The writing is in a common style alternating chapters between two women's stories. One woman is a judge's daughter and the other a slave.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I think I felt every emotion possible reading this book. I will forever remember it as one of the most endearing reads I've ever come across. Sue Monk Kidd nailed it with each character and enticed me to research further into the life of the Grimke sisters and the history of that location and time period. Definitely a recommended read for anyone.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Bleh. Tried the audio, as I couldn't get into the HB. Still no go. Flat. Piontless.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book has been on my TBR list for awhile. The book is based n the true story of well-known abolitionist Sarah Grimke. It tells of her growing up in a priviliged slave-owning white family in Charleston, SC. Her father was a well-respected magistrate and her and her numerous brothers and sisters were in Charleston society from an early age. At the age of 11, Sarah was given a black maidservant and even at that early age, Sarah couldn't bear owning a slave. Sarah and that maidservant, by the name of Hetty or Handful. as she was named by her mom, grew up together and, in spite of their differences in station, became friends. The book goes back and forth between Sarah's story and Handful's story over a thrity year time span. This form of narrative style really highlighted the differences in their lives and in therir stations. Sarah rebels against all her family stands for, and faces ostracism. Handful and her mother just try to survive, and fight to survive under appalling conditions. As I read, I found I was drawn further and further into this time. (I think that the book's back and forth narrative interefered with the natural flow of the story though) . It felt a bit disjointed at times, especially after Sarah left for the north. It was difficult to follow Handful's story, and that is really what I wanted more of. The insight into the early abolition movement was enlightening though. My main complaint with the book was a little less Sarah and a little more Handful, but in spite of that, I did enjoy Ms. Kidd's book. I'm glad I finally took the time to read it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When Sarah is 11, she is given ownership of a slave. The time is early 1800s and the place is Charleston, SC. The storyline continues for approximately 40 years and takes some interesting twists and turns. The voice of the story goes back and forth from Sarah, and Hetty (Handful), her personal slave. It appears the author did a lot of research to give credibility to the living conditions as well as the culture of the time. In the acknowledgement, she talks about how she discovered the characters in a review of history. Hard to classify this as "fiction" or "non-fiction." It is historical drama.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The author states that this is "a thickly imagined story inspired by her life." Her, being Sarah Grimke, a key figure in both the abolitionist and feminist movements. This is a wonderfully moving story of Ssrah, her sister Ninaand a slave. It may be fictionalised but truth is at its core and I urge everyone to read this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Engrossing story, and the narration of the audio book is excellent. One of favorites this year.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Our local museum, the Mint Museum, has started a really cool book club program. They choose books that pair nicely with their current exhibits and offer tours that show off some of the things that are either in the books or reflect the period of the book well. One of my book clubs wanted to try out this program so we read and discussed The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd's novel about a white woman who became a well known abolitionist and feminist and the black slave woman she grew up with, before we walked around the museum to see examples of household goods from the pre-Civil War South and elaborate African masks and other artifacts some slaves might have known before their enslavement. It added a really cool dimension to an already fascinating book.Based on the real life abolitionist and feminist Sarah Grimke, the novel runs from Sarah's childhood, when at 11 years old she was gifted with her own slave, Hetty (called Handful), to her adulthood when she spoke out publicly against this terrible institution and about the injustices done to all women. Chapters alternating between Sarah's story and Handful's story over their thirty five years together, tell the tale of their lives, the happy and the sad, the terrible and the great, and their relationship to each other. Sarah is the daughter of a conservative wealthy judge, southern aristocracy, but even from a very young age, she confronts entrenched traditions and the inhumanity of slavery. She is incredibly smart and yearns for an education but as a girl, she is not entitled to one, the very idea of her dreams to become a lawyer are laughed off. When she is given Handful as her own personal maid, she finds in the younger child an even more oppressed human being than she is. Her first big act of rebellion, and one that was definitely illegal, was teaching Handful how to read, a skill that would change the course of Handful's life. As both Sarah and Handful grow up, each of them struggles against their respective bonds searching for the freedom and equality they deserve and desire. If they cannot find it within the bounds of the laws of the day, they will find another way.Sarah and Handful are both amazing and strong women who have much to overcome in their lives because of the time and place in which they lived. Both characters tell their own stories in first person and the chapters alternating between the two of them allows comparisons as well as highlights differences in their circumstances. Each woman lives a constrained life, faces hard or unimaginable sacrifices, and puts right and responsibility above her own welfare and comfort. The story of these two women is both domestic and an insight into the winds of change as abolitionism grew stronger and stronger in our nation's history. The earlier years of the novel felt faster as they built up to the end because the build to the final rebellion was slow and measured, increasing the narrative tension and bringing the reader to the edge of wondering how the book could possibly finish strong and appropriately in so few remaining pages. And yet Kidd has managed to accomplish just that. This is an engaging and insightful look at slavery, feminism, friendship, honor, and perseverance through the fictionalized eyes of a forgotten but important figure in the abolitionist movement and the slave woman who spent so many years with the Grimke family aching for the promised freedom of her own.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Invention of Wings was a story about the time of slavery. The story alternates points of view from Sarah Grimke and a slave on her parents' plantation named Handful. Sarah's story is her struggle to live with a system that she didn't agree with her quest to find her own place in the world, going against all convention and expectations for women in the deep south. Handful's story was a glimpse of what life was like for a slave who had hopes, dreams, and many hardships.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very good fictionalized story of one of the earliest feminists and well-known anti-slavery activists. Ignore Oprah's predictably inane notes, however.