Sue Monk Kidd Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Sue Monk Kidd is one of the noteworthy authors of America who has written numerous successful novels based on the Fiction and Memoir genres. She hails from the Southern United States and is particularly well known for her novel title ‘The Secret Life of Bees’. Sue Monk was born on August 12, 1948 in Sylvester, Georgia, United States, and completed her schooling by attending local schools. Later, she went on to graduate from the Texas Christian University with a B.S. Degree in Nursing in the year 1970. After that, she began working as a Registered Nurse and has continued doing it throughout her life. Other than that, she has also worked as a college nursing instructor at the Georgia Medical College. When author Sue Monk was in her twenties, she was influenced by the writings of the author Thomas Merton. By reading the novels written by him, Sue Monk began exploring the inner life of herself.

The successful and popular writing works of other authors life Eudora Welty and C.G. Jung has also influenced author Sue Monk to a great extent in taking up a writing career. She began taking writing courses at the Anderson College, located in South Carolina and Emory University, during her thirties. Author Sue Monk also studied and attended a number of writing conferences such as Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and several others as well. One of the personal essays that she had written for a writing class got published in the Guideposts magazine and provided her the much required start of her writing career. The essay was reprinted in the Reader’s Digest as well. After a few years, author Sue Monk went on to work in the Guideposts magazine as a Contributing Editor.

Other than being a novelist, she also became a prominent memoirist and feminist through her writings. The first three books written by author Sue Monk Kidd were spiritual memoirs that described her personal experiences in the contemplative Christianity. In the last one of the three novels, she has described her journey from the evangelical Christianity to the feminist theology. In one of her other successful novels, author Sue Monk focuses on the idea of abandoning the quest for perfection, which seems rather hopeless, and accepting the fact that one is treated according to his behavior with others. She has also discussed some of the feminist issues in her other novels, such as her own midlife crisis, and the abandoning of the fundamentalism and her encounter with the spirituality of women. The first novel written by Sue Monk, The Secret Life of Bees, is set during the movement of the American civil rights in the year 1964. It tells the story of a young white girl who leaves her home and runs away to live with the former black nanny of her deceased mother. The nanny has now started working as a beekeeper and an independent honey-maker along with her sisters.

The novel has been adapted into a play by The American Place Theatre in New York. It was also made into a film of the same name by the Fox Searchlight production house and starred Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Dakota Fanning, Sophie Okonedo, and Jennifer Hudson. One of the recent novels written by author Sue Monk, The Invention of Wings published in the year 2014 is based on the life of a pioneer of women’s right and an abolitionist named Sarah Grimke. It went on to feature on top of the bestseller list of the New York Times. Author Sue Monk Kidd is married to Sandy Kidd and is blessed with a couple of children named Ann and Bob. Currently, she lives happily along with her family in Florida after having lived in Mt. Pleasant and Charleston in South Carolina. The founder of the Sophia Institute in South Carolina, Carolyn Rivers received a great inspiration from one of the novels written by author Sue Monk in the year 1996 titled ‘The Dance of the Dissident Daughter’. After its inception in the year 2008, Sue Monk began conducting writing workshops in the institute and also served as a faculty member.

One of the initial novels written by author Sue Monk Kidd was titled ‘The Secret Life of Bees’, which was published by the Penguin Books in the year 2001. The plot of this novel is set in Carolina, United States, during the time of the year 1964 and depicts the main characters in the form of Lily Owens, June Boatwright, Rosaleen, May Boatwright, etc. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Lily Owens is introduced as having a blurred memory of the day when her mother was killed. Her whole life has shaped around this incident. Later, her stand-in-mother named Rosaleen insults 3 deep racists of the town, after which Lily Owens decides to spring the both them free. Together, they escape to the town of Tiburon in South Carolina, the same town which holds many secrets from the past life of Lily’s mother. While in town, Lily Owen is taken by the eccentric group of beekeeping sisters and is introduced to the exciting world of bees and their hard made honey, as well as the Black Madonna. The novel turned out to be a remarkable description of the divine power of the females. Author Sue Monk believes that it will be shared many female readers and will be passed to their daughters in the years to come. The success of the novel helped it to win the Book Sense Award in the year 2004 and a nomination for the Abraham Lincoln Award in the year 2005.

One of the other novels written by author Sue Monk Kidd was titled ‘The Mermaid Chair’. It was published in the year 2004 by the Penguin Books publishing house. The plot of this novel is also set in The United States and is described as a luminous new story. It has been woven by author Sue Monk into a transcendent tale which has all the material to give a thrilling experience to the readers. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, she has introduced the main character named Jessie Sullivan and his life story. Throughout the course of the novel, Sue Monk has described the love story between a monk and a woman, a man and his wife, and finally between a woman and her soul. Sue Monk has also given a description of the journey of self-awakening and discovery, which is illuminated by the brilliance of her unique writing skills.