The Secret Life of Bees is a 1964 South Carolina-set novel about Lily Owens, whose life has been moulded by the hazy memory of the afternoon her mother was murdered. Lily makes the decision to set both of the town's most virulent racists free when Rosaleen, her fierce-hearted Black "stand-in mother," insults the three of them. They flee to Tiburon, South Carolina, a place where the truth about her mother's background may be found. Lily is adopted by an oddball trio of Black beekeeping sisters, who show her around their fascinating world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna. Women will share and pass on this amazing book on divine female strength to their daughters for years to come.