Instaread Summary Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Summary of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell | 2016 | Buy |
| Summary of The Light Between Oceans | 2016 | Buy |
| Summary of The Boston Girl | 2016 | Buy |
| Summary of The Invention of Wings | 2016 | Buy |
Non-Fiction
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| God’s Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved | 1987 | Buy |
| This Is the Day | 1987 | Buy |
| All Things Are Possible | 1988 | Buy |
| When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions | 1990 | Buy |
| Love’s Hidden Blessings: God Can Touch Your Life When You Least Expect It | 1990 | Buy |
| The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine | 1996 | Buy |
| A Luminous Presence: One Woman’s Awakening to the Inner Life | 2005 | Buy |
| Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd | 2006 | Buy |
| Traveling with Pomegranates | 2009 | Buy |
| Business Opportunities at Home: How to Start and Maintain Home Based Business | 2014 | Buy |
| The Spiritual Sampler | 2016 | Buy |
| Writing Creativity and Soul | 2025 | Buy |
Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Secret Life of Bees | 2001 | Buy |
| The Mermaid Chair | 2004 | Buy |
| The Invention of Wings | 2014 | Buy |
| The Book of Longings | 2020 | Buy |
Sue Monk Kidd began her writing career with books on Christian spirituality and contemplative prayer, publishing titles like God’s Joyful Surprise and When the Heart Waits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (1996) marked a turning point, as she explored feminist theology and her own spiritual evolution beyond traditional church structures.
Her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees (2001), became a massive bestseller and was adapted into a film starring Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning. Set in South Carolina in 1964, the story follows fourteen-year-old Lily Owens as she runs away from her abusive father and finds a home with three beekeeping sisters. Kidd followed it with The Mermaid Chair (2004), The Invention of Wings (2014), which imagines the lives of abolitionist Sarah Grimke and an enslaved woman named Handful, and The Book of Longings (2020), a novel about the fictional wife of Jesus.
She has also co-authored Traveling with Pomegranates with her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor.