The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Sarah Grimke grew up in Charleston, South Carolina during the nineteenth century. Her family was part of the privileged, wealthy,  slave-owning class; her father was a renowned judge, and they were considered at the top of the planter class, the elite of society. Yet at a young age, Sarah somehow became opposed to slavery. As a young woman, she became a Quaker, moved north, and became an abolitionist. Later, she and her younger sister, Angelina, became the first female abolition agents in America, and among the earliest feminist thinkers.

This is a fictionalized story about Sarah and a slave girl given to her on her eleventh birthday to be her personal maid. Hetty was the same age as Sarah, and their stories are told in alternating chapters of the book. The story of Sarah is based very closely on the actual historical events. However, the story of Handful (Hetty's slave name) is largely fiction.  The two parallel stories draw a stark contrast between the lives of slaves, and those who enslaved them.

This is a powerful book about the ways in which societies structure themselves on power and privilege - and then lie to themselves about the injustice inherent in these systems.


384 pages