Book Discussion Group, Saturday, June 4, 2016, 2:00 PM, San Leandro Main Library

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

According to Sue Monk Kidd's official biography, she was born and raised in Sylvester Georgia [in 1948], graduated from Texas Christian University in 1970 and later took creative writing courses at Emory University and Anderson College, as well as studying at Sewanee, Bread Loaf, and other writers conferences. Kidd's earlier published work was mainly essays about her journey from evangelical Christianity to feminist theology.  When she was in her 40s, she began writing fiction, winning the South Carolina Fellowship in Literature and the 1996 Poets & Writers Exchange Program in Fiction. Her short stories appeared in TriQuarterly, Nimrod, and other literary journals and received a Katherine Anne Porter award and citations in Best American Short Stories’ 100 Distinguished Stories. Her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, spent more than 2½ years on the New York Times bestseller list, sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S. and 8 million copies worldwide, received many awards, and was made into a movie in 2008.

Kidd’s second novel, The Mermaid Chair, has sold well over a million copies since its publication by Viking in 2005, reaching #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and remaining on the hardcover and paperback lists for nine months, also nominated for and receiving awards, and made into a television movie by Lifetime. The Invention of Wings, Kidd’s third novel was published January 7, 2014 by Viking to wide critical acclaim. It debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #1 and remained on the hardcover fiction list for over six months. It has sold over a million copies and been translated into 20 languages thus far. The winner of several literary awards, including the SIBA Book Award, the novel was chosen for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0.

Kidd serves on the Writers Council for Poets & Writers, Inc.  She lives in Southwest Florida with her husband, Sandy.

Sue Monk Kidd discusses The Invention of Wings at the Florida Book Awards:

 

The History Behind the Historical Fiction

The Grimke Sisters

Sarah Moore Grimke

Angelina Emily Grimke

The story of the abolitionist, feminist Grimke sisters, as told in The Invention of Wings is actually fairly close to the historical record, although Kidd admits to having tweaked the timeline somewhat. The character of Hetty (Handful) was based upon a real-life Hetty who was given to Sarah, as in the story, but the real-life Hetty actually died shortly after being given to Sarah, so the character in the book is entirely fictional.

One interesting connected story that was not referred to in the book is that one of their brothers had three mix-raced sons, and after that brother's death, the sisters brought their brother's sons up north to receive an education.

Denmark Vesey

The freed slave, Denmark Vesey, was a real historic character, born in the Virgin Islands around 1767, he was brought to Charleston by his master, a sea captain, won $1500 in a lottery, and used his winnings to purchase his freedom and that of his first wife and their children. The rebellion planned by Vesey and described in the book, was the most ambitious of the planned slave rebellions in its scope. It was inspired by the revolution in Haiti in 1791 and scheduled to take place on Bastille Day (July 14) 1822, though the plan was betrayed before it could be put into action.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston

The congregation of African American freedmen and slaves that Handful attended in The Invention of Wings was most likely based on Emanuel AME Church, a congregation that Denmark Vesey helped to found. The church building housing the congregation was burned down in 1822 after Vesey's rebellion. The congregation rebuilt the church for a while, but was outlawed in 1834 and forced to meet in secret. After the Civil War, the church building was rebuilt (picture at left) with help in part from Robert Vesey, one of Denmark Vesey's sons. That building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1886 and rebuilt on its present site in 1891. The congregation sadly was thrust into the limelight again on June 17, 2105, when a racist young white man, Dylan Roof, entered the church on a pretext of joining evening prayer services and then proceeded to shoot and kill nine members of the congregation.

Stories Told in Pictures

Sue Monk Kidd states that in creating the character Charlotte and her story quilt, she was inspired by the Bible quilts of Harriet Powers, an African American folk artist from rural Georgia, born a slave in 1837. Harriet Powers technique was influenced by the appliqué style of the Fon people of what is now the country of Benin, and Kidd created Charlotte as a descendant of the Fon. Here is an example of Fon  appliqué from Benin.

This appliqué also reminds me of the Royal Palace in Abomey, Benin. The walls of the palace are decorated with bas-relief sculptures of sun-baked clay that tell the stories of the Fon kings who lived in the palace at the height of their people's power.