BOOK REVIEW: The Invention Of Wings

It is sad to say that until I read THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd, I had never heard of the Grimke sisters. THE INVENTION OF WINGS is a fictionalized, well researched, account of Sarah and Angelina Grimke, early abolitionists and mothers of the women’s movement.

Born to wealth in Charleston, South Carolina, eleven-year-old  Sarah Grimke tries to refuse the birthday gift from her parents, the young slave girl Hetty. However, Sarah is not allowed a say in Hetty’s ownership and thus begins the story of two young girls, their relationship and their individual fight for freedom.

The book starts in 1803 when slavery was accepted not only as an economic necessity in the South but proof of social standing as well. Sarah and Hetty both tell their stories in alternating chapters and we see the cruelty of slavery through the eyes of a black girl who lives it and a white girl who feels the immorality of the system.

As a child Sarah had witnessed a brutal whipping of a slave and she had never got over it.  But, the event that was to change her life was being caught teaching Hetty to read. Teaching a slave to read was against the law and Hetty was publicly lashed and Sarah was banned from the books in her father’s library crushing all of her dreams of becoming a lawyer. This incident started Sarah on the path that would lead her to become an avid abolitionist and early fighter for women’s rights in our country.

When her sister Angelina is born, Sarah convinces their mother to name her Angelina’s godmother, despite Sarah’s young age. With Sarah’s influence, Nina grows to be the independent, outspoken woman that would lead the sisters’ important  war against slavery.

I really liked this book. Sarah Grimke, her sister Nina, and other people who played an important part in our history became very real. We forget the personal sacrifices that had to be made for some social changes to happen. I found it interesting that in speaking out against slavery, Sarah and Nina caused the start of the women’s liberation movement. For a woman to speak in public was not accepted and in fact caused as much of an uproar as the subject of slavery.

The character of Hetty was beautiful. Sarah Grimke had owned a slave named Hetty but not much is actually known about her. The fictional Hetty, or Handful as her mother named her, was a creation of Kidd’s. In the book,Hetty and her mother Charlotte were excellent seamstresses and responsible for all of the clothing and linens for the estate.

To tell her history, Charlotte made story quilts, always with black triangles someplace on them. These, she told Hetty, were the wings that would carry them to freedom some day. I loved the image of wings used throughout Hetty and Charlotte’s part of the book. Charlotte even tells Hetty that her skinny shoulder blades are the remnants of wings to set her free.

Sue Monk Kidd is an interesting author. She explained this novel by saying that she wanted to write a book about sisters and Sarah and Nina were a good choice. I felt that she carried that theme also through the relationship between Sarah and Hetty.

This is an author that I will continue to read. I liked her Secret Life of Bees, did not like The Mermaid’s Chair, and loved THE INVENTION OF WINGS. You will want to read any of Monk’s books with a group of friends. There are always so many points to start discussion.