I haven't gone to the library in ages. We used to go all the time, but once all of us kids were put in a private school, our library outings ceased to exist. Even after we were taken out of the school and home schooled again, we just never made time to go to the local library. So when the opportunity to go after our English class arose, I snatched it up. Usually I pick up at least ten different books, but this time I was only able to get two due to some unforeseen circumstances that forced us to leave the library earlier than expected. Nevertheless, I'm so excited to read both of these books as I've been dying to get my hands on them.
The Scarlet Thread, by Francine Rivers
Sierra Madrid, a bold and determined modern woman. Her marriage and family are about to be turned upside down by choices that seem out of her control.
Mary Kathryn McMurray, a young pioneer on the Oregon Trail. Tossed about by tragedy and betrayal, she is filled with anger at being uprooted from her home.
Two women, centuries apart, are joined through a tattered journal as they contend with God, husbands - even themselves - until they fall into the arms of the One who loves them unconditionally.
The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her harsh, unyielding father, Lily Owens has shaped her entire life around one devastating, blurred memory - the afternoon her mother was killed, when Lily was four. Since then, her only real companion has been the fierce-hearted, and sometimes just fierce, black woman Rosaleen, who acts as her "stand-in mother".
When Rosaleen insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily knows it's time to spring them both free. They take off in the only direction Lily can think of, a town called Tuburon, South Carolina - a name she found on the back of a picture amid the few possessions left by her mother.
There they are taken in by an eccentric trip of black beekeeping sisters named May, June, and August. Lily thinks of them as the calendar sisters and enters their mesmerizing secret world of bees and honest, and of the strong, wise women. Maternal loss and betrayal, guilt and forgiveness entwine in a story that leads Lily to the single thing her heart longs for most.
The Secret Life of Bees has a rare wisdom about life - about mothers and daughters and the women in our lives who become our true mothers. A remarkable story about the divine power of women and the transforming power of love, this is a stunning debut whose much, assured, irritable voice gathers us up and doesn't let us go, not for a moment. It is the kind of novel that women share with each other and that mothers will have down to their daughters for years to come.
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I've been a fan of Francine Rivers since the 9th grade when I read her The Mark of the Lion series. Her novels are all Christian-based and absolutely breathtaking in her writing style. I do have to point out that they are adult novels, and although she doesn't write about anything graphic or too sexual, things are implied and she holds nothing back. She's an adult writer writing for adults who can handle that, and none of those scenes are unnecessary or too forced. Everything she writes about is for a reason and to further the story and I truly believe it's her way of helping furthering the Kingdom of God.
I've heard about The Secret Life of Bees for a while now. A few of my friends read it but I just never picked it up off the shelf. I honestly forgot about it until Marcia posted her books she's read in 2014 + 10 of her favorites blog post and that novel was one of them. I'm super excited to read this one since I've never heard of the author before (it's a debut novel and all). Hopefully I'll be able to juggle these two books plus Pride and Prejudice, which is the novel I'm supposed to be reading for my English class.
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