LILY
Lily Owens, the protagonist (main character) and narrator of the story, has no mother and a father who abuses her. Lily has a vague memory of her mother on the day her mother died when Lily was four. Her father leads her to believe that she was the one who accidentally shot her mom, plaguing her with guilt. Her father, T. Ray, often mistreats her, such as making her kneel on grits while he whips her as punishment.
On her way to register to vote, Rosaleen, Lily's nanny and stand-in mother, steals two church fans and pours snuff juice on the shoes of the three most racist men in town after being verbally assaulted with racial slurs. Rosaleen is then arrested for assault, disturbing the peace, and theft. After being beaten with a flashlight by one of the racists and being beaten again in her cell, Rosaleen is sent to the hospital. That very same day, T. Ray had told Lily that her mother never loved her and in fact left her behind when she was little. Hurt and badly shaken up about this, Lily runs away from home and breaks Rosaleen out of jail. Together, Lily and Rosaleen hitchhike to Tiburon, South Carolina on the hunch that Lily's mother, who had written the city name on the back of a photo of the Black Mary, had once lived there.
After arriving in Tiburon, Lily spots the Black Mary on a jar of honey in a store. Lily goes to the beekeeper's pink house and is taken in by the three black Boatwright sisters: May, June, and August. They supply Rosaleen and Lily with housing, and Lily becomes an apprentice beekeeper under the guidance of August, the head of the household. The whole time at the Boatwright house, Lily faces inner conflict with wanting to know about her mother, but being too afraid to ask any of the Boatwright sisters.
Zachary Taylor, a high school student who works at the apiary to pay for college and become a lawyer, who courts Lily while working alongside her assisting August, is arrested after refusing to tell which one of his friends threw a bottle at a racist white man. When May, one of the sisters who suffers from depression ever since her twin sister died years ago, hears of this, she commits suicide by drowning herself in the river.
Lily finally gets her answers about Deborah (her mother) from August. But the truth is overwhelming for her. What her father said about her mother was true, but August points out that Lily's mother did try to fix her mistake...but it cost her her life. She was coming back for Lily after leaving her and then the accident with the gun happened. It takes Lily a while before she forgives her mother.
Shortly after, T. Ray finds Lily at the Boatwright household, and tries to take her back with him. He is caught up in an angry rage as he thinks his daughter is really his dead wife who he loved very much even though she ran away from him. Lily snaps him out of it by calling him Daddy, which she never had before. After hearing this and coming to his senses, T. Ray lets her stay with the beekeeping sisters after realizing that it would be best for Lily, but more importantly best for him too. Lily is then put into school and makes a new friend. Lily has finally found the mothers inside of her and they are "the moons shining over her".
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