The story concerns a woman who upon coming home to an island off the coast of South Carolina becomes attracted to a Benedictine monk who is just a few months short of taking his final vows. Her second novel, The Mermaid Chair (2005), won the 2005 Quill Award for General Fiction. The Secret Life of Bees movie won two People's Choice Awards at the 35th annual awards ceremony, taking home Best Movie Drama and Best Independent Movie. The novel was also adapted as a movie of the same name by Fox Searchlight, starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo. It has been adapted as an award-winning play in New York and debuted off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater. Her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees (2002), is set during the American civil rights movement of 1964, telling the story of a white girl who runs away from home to live with a black woman who now works as an independent bee-keeper and honey-maker with many of her sisters. Finally, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (Harper San Francisco, 1996), discussed her encounter with women's spirituality. When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions (Harper San Francisco, 1990) tells of her painful midlife crisis. God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved ( Harper San Francisco, 1988) is focused on abandoning a hopeless quest for perfection and accepting one is loved as one is. Her first three books were spiritual memoirs describing her experiences in contemplative Christianity, the last telling the story of her journey from traditional Christianity to feminist theology. She went on to become a Contributing Editor at Guideposts. She got her start in writing when a personal essay she wrote for a writing class was published in Guideposts and reprinted in Reader's Digest. She took creative writing courses at Emory University, Anderson University, and studied at Sewanee and the Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Kidd was influenced by the writings of Thomas Merton. She worked as a nursing instructor at the Medical College of Georgia. In 1970, she graduated from Texas Christian University with a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Kidd was born and raised in Sylvester, Georgia. Sue Monk Kidd (born August 12, 1948) is an American writer from Sylvester, Georgia best known for her novels The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings.

The Invention of Wings, The Secret Life of Bees, The Mermaid Chair, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story

The invention of wings book