Historical Fiction At It's Best!

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a really good book that will give you enjoyment, but will also cause you to reflect. What makes it even better is that this fictional book is based on the true story of two southern sisters, Sarah and Angelina Grimke. Not only were the sisters abolitionists, but they were forerunners for women's rights and the equality of women. We need to celebrate women like this more--it's on their backs that we are able to work, write and love freely!

I loved how the author imagined the sisters lives, and depicted the lives of the slaves who worked in their household.

The slave issue is not minimized. The situations depicted in the story reflect the anguish of a people being separated from loved ones and the reality of having to submit to the whims of their white masters, even to physical cruelty. Basically, cruelty, whether it is to slaves or each other, is the attempt to extinguish the light that we all carry within us. Handful and her mauma, two of the main slave characters in this story, work hard to keep their light. Of her mauma, Handful says

"Everything she knew came from living on the scarce side of mercy"

In the novel, Sarah struggles with her belief that slaves should be free and her family and southern society's beliefs that they should not. Sarah is a brilliant scholar, and her father ultimately shuts all the doors of learning to her. (Doesn't this just make you mad!) We meet Sarah on her birthday at age 11 when her parents give her Handful as her slave. This is when her struggle begins. We are able to grow up along with her as she learns what is denied to her as a woman, as an abolitionist and as a feminist.

The story moves between Sarah and Handful. We're able to see what they think about themselves, each other, the slavery situation and their relationship with each other.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the story was the quilting theme. Mauma and Handful are the seamstresses for the Grimke family. In the evenings and in time stolen during the day, they worked on quilts. The description of Mauma's story quilt was inspired from the quilt work of a slave woman named Harriet Powers which is now on display at The Smithsonian.

Do read the Author's note at the end of the story so you can understand the historical bits and the fictional bits of the story. I enjoyed doing some research on the Grimke sisters as much as I did the book!



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