Join us for West Branch's monthly virtual book discussion group. We read a variety of contemporary fiction and non-f iction and meet once a month on Zoom for a thoughtful discussion. Register to receive the Zoom meeting information. Limited print copies of the sele cted title will be available at the West Branch for Browse &\; Go picku p. \; Contact discussion leader Becky Clark at rclark@aurorapubliclibrary.org for more infor mation.
\nBook description: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd< /p>\n
Hetty "Handful" Grimke\, an urban slave in early nineteenth centur y Charleston\, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose h er within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke's daughter\, Sarah\, ha s known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world\ , but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.
\nKidd's swee ping novel is set in motion on Sarah's eleventh birthday\, when she is giv en ownership of ten year old Handful\, who is to be her handmaid. We follo w their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years\, as both stri ve for a life of their own\, dramatically shaping each other&rsquo\;s dest inies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt\, defiance\, estr angement and the uneasy ways of love.
\nAs the stories build to a ri veting climax\, Handful will endure loss and sorrow\, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes\, betr ayal\, unrequited love\, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find h er place alongside her fearless younger sister\, Angelina\, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women&rsquo\;s rights movements.
\nInspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke\, Kidd goes beyond th e record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters\, b oth real and invented\, including Handful&rsquo\;s cunning mother\, Charlo tte\, who courts danger in her search for something better.
\nThis e xquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unsw erving eyes at a devastating wound in American history\, through women who se struggles for liberation\, empowerment\, and expression will leave no r eader unmoved.
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