The Secret Life of Bees

I have just finished reading a great book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  It tells the story of a teenage girl who lives with an abusive father.  The book is told with the background of the civil rights movement.  She eventually runs away from home with her Afro-american nanny (who runs into some hot water when she attempts to register for the vote).  She sets off in search of information about her dead mother.  "She ends up living with an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters.  She is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey."

It is one of the most positive books I have read.  Often novels are really depressing, but this is truely an uplifting story about the power to survive adversity and death.