The Help is a 2009 novel by American author Kathryn Stockett. It is about
African American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi
during the early 1960s.
The novel is told from the point of view of three narrators: Aibileen Clark,
a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white
children, and who has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson, an African-
American maid whose back-talk towards her employers results in her having to
frequently change jobs, exacerbating her desperate need for work as well as
her family's struggle with money; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young white
woman and recent college graduate who, after moving back home, discovers that
a maid that helped raise her since childhood has abruptly disappeared and her
attempts to find her have come to nought. The stories of the three women
intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around
"the help", with complex relations of power, money, emotion, and intimacy
tying together the white and black families of Jackson.
A USA Today article calls it one of 2009's "summer sleeper hits" and notes
that the book is climbing bestseller lists.[1] An early review in The New
York Times notes Stockett's "affection and intimacy buried beneath even the
most seemingly impersonal household connections" and says the book is
a "button-pushing, soon to be wildly popular novel".[2] The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution said of the book, "This heartbreaking story is a stunning debut
from a gifted talent".
The novel is Stockett's first. It took her five years to complete the book,
which was rejected by at least 45 literary agents. The Help has since been
published in 35 countries and three languages. As of May 27, 2010, it had spent
a full year on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and was sitting at #1.
The Help's audiobook version is narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia
Spencer, and Cassandra Campbell. Spencer was Stockett's original inspiration
for the character of Minny.
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