Nancy’s Pick
April 2015
The Invention of Wings
Sue Monk Kidd, January 2014 by Penguin Publishing Group
The Invention of Wings is a fictionalized history of the real South Carolina Grimkes sisters, Sarah and Angelina. As adults, they both work in the abolitionist and women’s rights movement.
The narrative includes a young slave, Hetty, who is given to Sarah as her eleventh birthday present. Sarah even at that young age despises slavery. Sarah fails in her attempts to allow Hetty her freedom.
Sarah teaches Hetty to read, a criminal offense in antebellum South Carolina. As punishment, Sarah is banned from using her father’s library. Sarah’s hope of studying law is not allowed. She is ridiculed by her father and brothers for even thinking of such an idea.
Hetty is whipped for the offense of learning to read. Hetty’s story involves much physical pain and emotion emptiness. She learned to sew and quilt from her slave mother. Together they make a quilt that tells her family’s life story. As Hetty ages, her seamstress skills allow her a way to escape from the horrors of slave life.
Much of the book is historically based. The author’s research of facts, dates, letters, and articles provide a believable story of Sarah’s life in the days of slavery and Hetty’s life as a slave. Sue Monk Kidd uses the factual details to write a truly inspired fictionalized story of Hetty’s life of slave girl to women.
The Invention of Wings does engage the reader to explore and experience the difficult and complex ideas of slavery. Readers experience the horror of slavery, the lack of woman’s rights, and the strength of the spirit to survive.