The Help by Kathryn Stockett

“The Help” by Katherine Stockett is the recent US best-seller that is due to hit the silver screen in October.

The story is set in Jackson, Mississippi and the year is 1962 where the black maids raise the white children but have to use the outside toilet. The story revolves around three women, Aibileen, who has been looking after white children for most of her life and has now taken on her seventeenth child, whilst nursing the pain of the tragic death of her son. Her best friend Minny, has a sharpe tongue and wonderful culinary skills and finally there is Miss Skeeter, a young white woman who has just returned home from university to discover her beloved maid, has mysteriously disappeared.

The three women form an unlikely and highly secretive alliance, as Miss Skeeter decides she wants to be taken seriously as a writer, but to attract the attention of the New York newspapers, she needs to write about something controversial and show-stopping.

So with the aid of Aibileen and Minny, she decides to interview the black maids of the town, wanting to find out the good, the bad and the prejudice of their employees. With this venture, all three women embark on an journey of reliance and secrecy as they struggle to keep the project from the white people of the town. And with each maid, comes a shocking truth that makes Miss Skeeter discover that she doesn’t really know the people, that she always has regarded as friends. especially when she finds out what goes on behind closed doors.

“The Help” is a wonderfully interesting book that occasionally makes you tut in disgust and other times laugh out loud. Set in a town filled with a curious mix of people, all hiding secrets from one another. It’s quite a unique concept, to think of the young, brave Miss Skeeter, barely in her twenties, taking on a such a dangerous challenge that could put so many lives at risk, but its insightful to hear the stories of the maids and treatment towards them especially when the prejudice towards them was at its highest.

“The Help” is definitely one of the most distinctive books I have read this year and I would highly recommend this book, to everyone looking for something a little bit different.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0141039280″ target=”_blank” ]The Help on Amazon [/amazon_link] and other good bookshops.