We review ‘A Room of One’s Own’ and some other women oriented books for you.
A Room of One’s Own
Author: Virginia Woolf
‘A Room of One’s Own’ is an essay based on a series of lectures Woolf delivered at two women’s colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928.
In it she examines the limitations of womanhood in the early twentieth century.
She relies on prose and the poetic licence of a novelist, to make a bid for freedom, attempting to prove that the lack of an independent income, and the titular ‘room of one’s own’, prevents most women from reaching their full literary potential.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Author: Maya Angelou
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local people.
At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime.
Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors will allow her to be free.
The Secret Life of Bees
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
‘The Secret Life of Bees’ tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed.
When Lily’s ‘stand-in mother’, Rosaleen, insults three of the racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina, a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past.
Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna.