The Secret Life of Bees is a domestic fiction novel set in 1964. Here we follow Lilly Owens and
her life in an unstable environment. Secrets kept from her since an early age has led Lilly
through life changing events that bring her farm from home. She starts on a path of growth and
healing that leads her to find family and hope in a world full of fear and prejudice.
Lilly starts as a young girl wishing to know more of her deceased mother, seeking answers, she
finds a crude location scraped in the back of a wooden Mary painting found in the attic of her
house. With her nanny, Rosaleen, in tow they set out to find more of Lily's mother as they travel
to Tiburon, South Carolina. In pursuit of her harmful and unfit caretaker of a father, Lily and
Rosaleen must find hope in their situation as they travel and unravel the secrets and sorrows of
their woeful past.
The life of Lily portrayed in this novel is an perfectly captivated retelling of the experience with
childhood trauma and the effects of that as one matures, the plot was a slow boil at first but is
entirely worth it for the heartwarming and tear-pulling tale of Lily and a family of beekeepers. A
must read for anyone interested in emotional books.