Plot+Summary

This [|" phenomenal number one bestseller"] by Sue Monk Kidd is about a spirited teen named [|Lily] [|Melissa] Owens. (Click on the links to find out the meanings of these names). Lily has a secret that has been haunting her since she was four and it is that she supposedly killed her mother just by picking up a gun. She lives with her un-yielding father, T-Ray and her carer, Rosaleen, who is an African-American. After a racial dispute involving Rosaleen and some of the biggest racists in Sylvan, South Carolina and Rosaleen is sent to jail. Lily is compelled to act by busting Rosaleen out of hospital after she had been in a massive fight and got severely beaten. Rosaleen and Lily make their way to Tiburon to find out about Lily's mother. Three bee-keeping sisters named May, June and August Boatwright take Lily and Rosaleen in under false pretense and Lily has a feeling that her mother knew August but she doesn't know how.

After living with August for a while, Lily meets Zach, August's godson and falls in love with him. Zach inspires Lily to tell August the truth and August openly tells Lily about her mother. Lily embraces the news but when T-Ray shows up at August's house, she stands up to T-Ray and they have a fight. T-Ray leaves Lily in the care of August and Lily feels like she is the luckiest girl in the world because she finally has a mother to look after her.