Bestselling author Sue Monk Kidd’s new novel, The Invention of Wings, begins in Charleston, South Carolina, with a gift. For Sarah Grimké’s 11th birthday in 1803, she receives a slave, and her story first intersects with that of Hetty (known as “Handful” to her mother, a slave in the same household). The novel follows Sarah and Hetty well into adulthood, as their personal choices play out against the backdrop of one of the most tense periods in American history.