In "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd we see a troubled young Lily Owens longing for answers about her mother and the maternal love she never received. Lily blossoms from a fragile, wounded girl into a strong, independent young woman with the help of the Boatwright sisters. The main themes shown throughout the book are the desire for maternal love and the power and strength of the female community. Throughout the story Lily has a void in her life that she desperately needs to be filled and that void is her longing for maternal love and answers about her mother who died when Lily was just a child. It is clear that Lily is unhappy in Sylvan where she lives with her abusive and unloving father T. Ray and after seeing her caregiver Rosaleen stand up to the three most racist men in Sylvan she finds the courage to break Rosaleen out of prison and run away. . She remembers the photo of the black Mary that belonged to her mother with "Tiburon, South Carolina" written on the back and decides to run away there in hopes of uncovering the secrets of her mother's past. “I a...