Before films come out in the cinema I like to read the book first (if there was one). I much prefer to build my own version of the characters than end up with the movie versions. When I first started reading The Help I didn’t realise it had been made into a movie and was due to be released.

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.