The Invention of Wings

Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

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.

Content Notes: Slavery (brutality etc), racism, sexual references, and misogyny (thanks Stephen for compiling these!)

Stephen: I am totally loving this book so far! The dual narratives are powerful and wonderfully written, and I became invested in both of them almost right from the start. It deals with a heavy historical topic in a sophisticated way, and the author has set the scene so well, making most of the events and settings feel extremely vivid. What have you made of it, Kriti?

Me: I agree with you, Stephen, this is very well written! I love how the two narratives offer different sides of the experience and allow us to think more broadly about slavery and the 1800s. With Sarah, we see the life of a privileged girl who has so much and yet nothing at all. With Handful, we get an idea of the shared experience of the slaves and how they are coping with the situation they have been put in.

Stephen: Sarah is already a brilliant character and I am utterly rooting for her. She has a very kind heart. It was really sad when she wasn’t able to free Handful and also when her family silenced her ambition to become a lawyer and stopped her from reading. I understand that women were treated as very much subordinate in those days, but the sexism still made my blood boil. I hope Sarah becomes a lawyer in the end, to prove them all wrong. Do you enjoy reading from her perspective?

Me: I am totally rooting for her too! Her style of thinking is so pure and logical. At only eleven years of age, she is already seeing a dissonance between what’s humanly right and what’s wrong and baffled by why others can’t seem to see it. Definitely wonderful traits for a lawyer! 🙂

Stephen: I’m looking forward to seeing more of Sarah and Handful’s relationship. I like how much they care for each other and they feel confident to share things such as stories and secrets. I also wonder if Sarah now being godmother to her new sister might change that dynamic?

Me: It was so heartbreaking to read about Sarah’s situation. If someone took away my books I would be devastated. Growing up, there were times where my mom would bar me from reading because “I was spending too much time doing that” so I can relate to her despair in some ways. Sarah’s mom’s take on things blew my mind. “Every girl must have ambition knocked out of her for her own good. (pg 81)” That was harsh. It was interesting to me that Sarah chose to be the godmother of her baby sister. It made me think about how, even at such a young age, she knows that, as a woman, family is the only place where her “ambitions” will be acceptable. What were your thoughts on this, Stephen? Did it make you reflect on the position of women in society?

Stephen: It certainly did! The discussion about the position of women is still an extremely relevant discussion today and while, of course, things have improved massively since the 19th century, there are still many who are made to think that their ambitions are unrealistic. There is still the fact that expectations of women are often focused on family when they have so much else to give to society if only given the chance. After hearing the reaction of her male relatives, Sarah just became resigned to her fate and my heart broke for her.