Secret Life of Bees?

Question

Is it fiction?

Answer 1

It certainly is.
The Secret Life of Bees (Paperback)
by Sue Monk Kidd

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SMK: "Readers assume that you must be writing surreptitiously about your own life, you know, and that's just not the case with me. It seems to diminish the power of the imagination. They're always thinking, "Oh, you must have had such a poor childhood. That father of yours was terrible," and my father didn't deserve this at all. He's such a fine father. But that seems to go part and parcel with it. I think the bulk of my work, the real substance of my work, is truly conjured out of imagination. But I do borrow bits and pieces of things. I mine place a lot. I mined the little town I grew up in for The Secret Life of Bees and where I live now for The Mermaid Chair. So I think you are weaving in certain fragments, but mostly, yeah, I think we have to take our hat off to the imagination."

Interviewer: "In this era when creative nonfiction and memoirs are so popular, when somebody picks up a novel, the assumption, first of all, is that it is based on the writer's life, but you're proof that it doesn't have to be.

SMK: Exactly. And so maybe that's a more of a recent thing, with reality television, exposés, everybody wanting to know every detail of people's lives, celebrity confessions, and so forth. But I think we must essentially let fiction be what it is: fiction.

Answer 2

The Secret Life of Bees is a work of fiction by Sue Monk Kidd, but is loosely based on her life growing up in the south and the African-American rights movement.

Answer 3

Yes it is fiction. But it's a great book. I only wish that A tree Grows in Brooklyn were non fiction. It's absolutely wonderful. have you read it? If you haven't then you should.