The Help is written by Kathryn Stockett and she used the experiences she found growing up with a black maid and the experiences of her maid.  The book focuses on the unsettling times in the southern states of the USA where there was still a lot of tension between the blacks and whites. The book is set in Jackson Mississippi in 1962 and follows black maids who are basically bringing up their white bosses children, but still suffer a lot of segregation.

To start off with I found it hard to get my head around the fact that white people thought the black people were good enough to bring up their children however not good enough to use the same toilets (which comes up frequently in the book). For someone of my age growing up without racial segregation in the UK a lot of what went on compels me to understand more.

The Help manages to touch these thought provoking topics with some light heartedness and a compelling story that keeps you hooked. It follows Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child whilst struggling with the hurt caused by her own son’s tragic death, then there is sassy Minnie who is an excellent cook, however she does not have much patience. Then there is white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared. The three become friends slowly as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, as Skeeter writes about the maid’s trials and tribulations.

I find all the characters likeable well all but Hilly, but then again I don’t think she is meant to be liked and in fact I was revelling in some of her retribution throughout the book. This is defiantly one of those books you can’t put down and I would recommend reading it before you see the movie, which has also go rave reviews.

The Help

The plot centres around five main characters. Famous film star Lili is trying to trace her birth mother and knows that a mysterious benefactor sent money to her adoptive parents to pay for her upkeep – her mission is to find out who that was. The story jumps back to 1960, where we meet four schoolfriends, Pagan, Kate, Judy and Maxine. The girls are close and we follow them as they progress through school and blossom into beautiful young ladies. Each girl begins an illicit romance and eventually, one of the girls becomes pregnant. The baby is named Elizabeth Lace and put up for adoption – the mothers name listed as ‘Lucinda Lace’ – but who is the mysterious Lucinda Lace?

As the lives of the four girls’ progresses, each one of them maintaining a fabulously successful career, they receive news that the baby has died. The years of lies, resentment and shame cause them to fight and they each go their separate ways. Lili in the meantime is determined to find her mother, the woman who abandoned her and left her to suffer – she will stop at nothing until she uncovers the truth.

Eventually, the four women are summoned to New York, where Lili asks “Which one of you bitches is my mother?” It’s a spellbinding end to the novel, which will leave you gagging for more. Luckily Conran agreed and Lace 2 followed with the explosive revelation of the true identity of Lili’s parents.

For the perfect holiday novel, you can’t go wrong.