The Invention of Wings: A Novel

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Kidd was born and raised in Sylvester, Georgia. In 1970, she graduated from Texas Christian University with a bachelor of science degree in nursing. She worked as a nursing instructor at the Medical College of Georgia. [3] 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 went on to become a Contributing Editor at Guideposts. Sarah Grimké was both attracted by and repelled by organized religion. What role does it play in Sarah’s life? How, if at all, does religion influence Handful? How would you describe Handful’s spirituality? I even loved the footnotes where the Author tells us how the real life story of the Grimke sisters inspired her book. Not all of her characters were real, some were based on real people but some were invented. She does a great job in telling us why she wrote what she did and what liberties she took with their story.

The novel’s other protagonist, based on the real historical figure (1792-1873). The daughter of a wealthy land-owning family in Charleston, Sarah stands out for both her ambition to be a female jurist and her fight… 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 Grimkes’ 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. SMK: I was interested in how my characters could invent their own freedom, their own voices in the world—their wings. Contrast Handful’s relationship with her mother with the relationship between Sarah and the elder Mary Grimké. How are the two younger women formed—and malformed—by their mothers? It was adapted as a 2006 Lifetime movie of the same name. [4] The movie starred Kim Bassinger and Bruce Greenwood.Your writing tends to do more for your readers than simply entertain them. Reading one of your novels can be a kind of transformation. How do you hope that The Invention of Wings might affect someone who reads it?

a b "Sue Monk Kidd Profile". University of South Carolina. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014 . Retrieved April 23, 2014. I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.” We think that we know something about the atrocities of slavery because we learned about it in American history class, or we saw glimpses of it in a movie or a book. But it isn't until we confront a depiction of it that seems so real and horrible, that we realize how very little we really know of the injustice of slavery. Sue Monk Kidd has provided that depiction in this amazing novel. The Invention of Wings Information Here (I suggest looking for the original non annotated version, not the Oprah annotated version) Meet the Author, Sue Monk KiddWhat was the process of writing the novel like for you? How did you go about your research? You’ve commented that you went further out on the writing limb with this novel than you’ve been before. What did you mean? The Invention of Wings essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. A remarkable novel that heightened my sense of what it meant to be a woman – slave or free . . a conversation changer.”– Oprah Winfrey, O, The Oprah Magazine