Author
A fellow Texas Christian University grad (Nursing, 1970)! Before writing the novel, she took several writing courses - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Monk_Kidd
This was her first novel, and it was made into a movie. But she was published and was a contributing editor to a magazine before that...
Literary value
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Bees_(novel) -- links to reviews
