“A direct literary descendant of Carson McCullers” (The Baltimore Sun), Sue Monk Kidd grapples with the struggles of women to be heard, loved, and understood. Her no. 1 New York Times bestseller The Secret Life of Bees maps a young girl’s “journey toward self-acceptance, faith and freedom” (USA Today) amidst the unrest of 1960s South Carolina. Kidd is also the author of the bestselling The Mermaid Chair.  Both were adapted into popular films. Her nonfiction writing explores feminist theology, personal memoir, contemplative Christianity, and her introspective relationship with her daughter. The Invention of Wings follows the fortunes of two women, one a slave and the other born into a life of privilege, who nevertheless forge a profound bond as they strive toward liberation and achievement over several decades in the early 19^th-century South.