About the author

Sue Monk Kidd grew up in Sylvester, Georgia, a tiny town where her family has lived for 200 years. In her bestselling debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the main character is abandoned by her mother. “Many readers consoled me on what they assumed was a wretched childhood, but in fact, my mom was once voted ‘mother of the year’,” says Sue. Inspired by her father’s magical stories, aged 12 Sue announced she would be a writer. She actually studied nursing – “a traditional female profession in 1966. My longing to write never left me and on my 30th birthday, I announced to my husband and two toddlers that I was going to become a writer. I never looked back.”