The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd

Ripe with the vernacular of honey, and the underlying issues of racial and gender equality, this is one of the best books I've read in a while, and now ranks among my favorites. The imagery is stunning, the characters vivid and the language fluid. I couldn't put this book down. The beauty in each sentence, and the grace with which Monk Kind describes the emotional turbulence of a teenage girl who is seeking connections to her dead mother carried me urgently from one chapter to the next.