How long does it take to read The Secret Life of Bees?
Sue Monk Kidd, Sue Kidd
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Sue Kidd takes about 5 hours 33 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 33 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2000. 303 pages, about 83,325 words. Written for young adults.
12 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 16 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 33 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 28 minutes |
The page count is the median across 30 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love—a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
Subjects: Teenage girls, Fiction, South Carolina in fiction, African American women, Beekeepers, Race relations
