One of my favorite authors, Sue Monk Kidd, a native Southerner, has written another memorable book, The Invention of Wings, a novel that spans 35 years, beginning in 1803.
For her eleventh birthday, Sarah Grimke is given a personal slave, Hetty, who goes by the name Handful. Horrified, Sarah tries to refuse the gift, but is seriously rebuked by her aristocratic family. Sarah’s father is a highly respected South Carolina Supreme Court justice and her mother a rigid taskmaster who doles out harsh punishment to their many slaves.
Handful, ten when the story begins, is third-generation slave. She’s adorned with lavender ribbons, like a wrapped present, when she’s “given” to Sarah. Although the gift cannot be rescinded, Handful and Sarah form a bond that will eventually shape their lives. Sarah refuses to treat Handful as a slave, but a slave she is and as such is expected to work long hours, then sleep on the floor in the hallway by Sarah’s bedroom in the event her “mistress” has needs during the night.
The book artfully toggles between Sarah and Handful’s stories. Deeply affected by the mistreatment of the slaves, Sarah silently rebels. She develops a speech impediment after witnessing the whipping of a woman slave, an impediment that haunts her the rest of her life. When Sarah teaches Handful to read, an act that’s against the law in antebellum South Carolina, both girls are severely punished.
Sarah has a good relationship with one of her older brothers and later, when little sister Angelina is born, the two girls become inseparable.
Divided into six parts, the book progresses through Sarah and Handful’s lives and the social attitudes of the time.
Sarah and sister Angelina move north, to slave-free Philadelphia, and begin promoting abolition of slavery and for women’s rights. Surprisingly, they find strong support for abolition, but resistence for women’s rights.
Meanwhile, Handful has reached middle-age and yearns to be free. Sarah and Handful have remained friends, keep up a correspondence, and struggle for their common goal, freedom.
The Invention of Wings is loosely based on the true story of Sarah and Angelina Grimke who became famous, even infamous, speakers against slavery and for women’s suffrage. Many of the situations portrayed are real-life events. Kidd describes the barbaric mistreatment of slaves in vivid detail. The story takes place pre-Civil War, and Kidd does a good job presenting both sides of slavery. I highly recommend this powerful and sweeping novel of American history.