The Secret Life of Bees is a book by author Sue Monk Kidd. Set in 1964, the coming-of-age story acknowledges the predicament of loss and betrayal. It received critical acclaim and was a New York Times bestseller list. It won the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards (Paperback), and was nominated for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.The book was later was adapted into a film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.