The Invention of Wings
"This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved."
I am inspired by men and women who have the courage to stand up to these injustices and fight for those who cannot not fight for themselves. While this book is historical fiction, it is based upon the life of Sarah Grimke. It begins with Sarah as a young girl who struggles with the harsh realities of slavery and ultimately is given a slave (Hettie) as a gift for her eleventh birthday. Sarah lives under the constraints of a suffocating culture that allows few freedoms for women and keeps her from doing what she feels is right. Hettie tells the same story from the viewpoint of the oppressed. But Sarah knows that she is meant to do something bigger and that she has the power to fight against an unjust system. Ultimately she finds the courage to leave South Carolina and join her sister, Angelina, to become “one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movement.” I am grateful for the story of these women who gave up everything they had to fight for something greater than themselves. I am grateful for their courage.