THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd

This book is full of brutality and emotion, but it is also about hope and change. It takes place in the early 19th century in Charleston during the time of slavery. The book switches between 2 narrators, Sarah Grimke, the daughter of a prominent white family, and Handful/Hetty, a young slave of the Grimke family.

Sarah loses the ability to speak at a young age while witnessing cruelty against slaves on her family's property. Later, she finds her voice, but struggles her whole life with a speech impediment. Handful is given to Sarah as a gift for her 11th birthday. Sarah resists this present of Handful as her personal maid, but is forced to live with the situation. This marks the start of Sarah's and Handful's relationship. Sarah tries to help and befriend Handful, but there is always a chasm between them seeing as one was rich and white and the other a slave. Still, there is a connection between them that endures their whole lives. Both Sarah and Handful have many significant life experiences that Monk exposes with grace and wit. I was especially drawn to Handful's and her mother, Charlotte's, story. It was easy for me to become emotionally invested in their plight and their desires for freedom. It was easy to get swept up in Charlotte's story of the blackbirds and the quilt. Monk's symbolism involving the blackbirds and the soul tree (?) added depth to Handful's narrative.

For someone who lost their voice, Sarah was able to find it and use it to her advantage on the behalf of slaves and women everywhere. I was surprised to learn that this book is based on real people. Sarah Grimke and her family did exist. I went into this book thinking that it was purely fictional, but learning that Sarah and her sister, Nina, were real people shed a whole new light on the story and made the book more significant. I have heard that this is going to be THE book club book of 2014 and I agree wholeheartedly. 



The Grimke Sisters



Angelina Emily and Sarah Moore Grimke were abolitionists and women’s rights activist during the 19th century.

Although Angelina and Sarah were thirteen years apart in age, they lived together their whole lives and were not just sisters, but best friends.  They started out life as daughters of a slave owner on a South Carolina plantation.  Their father was the Judge John Faucheraud Grimke in Charleston that had served in the State Legislature and the state’s highest court.  Mary Smith Grimke, their mother, was also from a prominent South Carolina family.  

During their childhood, the Grimke’s strict Christian father was very oppressive not only to them but to the slaves on their plantation.  He had strict beliefs about both the place of women in society and slaves.  The girls were not allowed to pursue higher education, so they secretly taught themselves and kept occupied teaching Bible classes to slave children.  Even thought the sisters grew up in this domineering family environment, they had kind, willful personalities and believed all people, no matter gender or race, were equal.

Sarah’s drive for racial equality stemmed from two experiences in her childhood that stayed with her throughout her life.  At the age of five, she witnessed the atrocity of a male slave being whipped to death. This monstrosity can be seen in the picture of a slave’s scarred back; seeing this, one can only imagine how it affected Sarah.  Only three years later, the slave girl her father had assigned “constant companion,” suddenly died.  Sarah was compelled to lobby for equal rights for women because of her lack of education as a young woman.  She dreamed of continuing her education, but this was denied to her by her father because she was a woman.  She then resorted to secretly studying her brother’s books at night. Her motivation can be seen in the letter she wrote to the Clergy urging them to join her fight for equality.

Angelina found a surrogate mother of sorts in her older sister, Sarah.  She, too, struggled with the issue of slavery, and had terrible experiences in viewing the ways slaves were treated.  Sarah became a Quaker, which is where she found the inspiration to let her opinions on slavery and women’s rights be known. Angelina’s speech at Pennsylvania Hall struck a chord, as people found they had to listen to a whit southern woman who so strongly was for abolition. She succeeded in converting her sister to the religion and a life of advocacy.  The sisters no longer had any marriage prospects and they cut their family ties and moved up North in order so that their voices might be heard.  This became more of a struggle than the sisters expected.

During their lifetimes, the Grimke sisters succeeded in delivering numerous speeches and publishing many works.  The most popular and widespread of these are still read and examined today.  Angelina Grimke’s most famous works were her Speech in Pennsylvania Hall and her Appeal to the Christian Women of the South.  Sarah Grimke is best known for her Letter in Response to the Pastoral Letter  and An Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States.

A beautifully written book.  The characters and emotions stay with you long after you've finished reading. I didn't know until the end this novel was written on a real person's life. What an amazing story....I absolutely loved it!!