Blue tone Lily

I just finished Sue Monk Kidd's book The Invention of Wings last week. One of the best reads for me in a long time. She really has an eloquent way with prose and she uses her characters to portray some of the horrors of slavery that we must never never forget if we are not to repeat them. One of her main character's , Sarah Grimke, is based upon a real early abolitionist and feminist but her novel is historical fiction as many of the character's thoughts etc. she creates to fill in voids. She also creates a fictitious female slave belonging to the Grimke family who is the other main character of this novel. The story is rich in imagery and in depth of character development delving into many provocative issues of the times around the abolition movement and women's rights---which were often pitted against each other in those times.

In Ms. Monk Kidd's author's notes, she left me with a very profound thought that I'll pass on here to you...words from a Professor Julius Lester---"History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another's pain in the heart our own."

We have a long way to go I fear.