The bees came summer of ’64, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinnin’ off into a whole new orbit. Lookin’ back on it, I want to say they were sent to me…. They showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary. I know it’s forward to compare my small life to hers, but I have good reason to believe she wouldn’t mind.
Opening lines from the character Lily in the film version of The Secret Life of Bees (2008) based on the 2002 novel by Sue Monk Kidd.