Full of plot twists and sly humor, The Help is what you might call an old-fashioned page turner.

Entertaining in that it is a yarn well spun, a tale of women’s lives that has its antecedents in books like the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or The Joy Luck Club. The story of these unseen women forms the basis of Kathryn Stockett’s entertaining and problematic novel, The Help.

She was, to all intents and purposes, the invisible woman. She could tell outlandish stories, sing spirituals or drop pearls of wisdom – that was part of her “character” – but speaking her true mind was out. Mammy was expected to be chief bottle washer, maid, cook, and helpmeet. For McDaniel in Hollywood, like many black women throughout the United States, the only role that white folks would accept her in was a domestic one. Of course, she didn’t have much of a choice. Hattie McDaniel, the Academy-Award winning actress who played Mammy in Gone with the Wind reportedly once said: “Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making $7 a week being one.” She uncovers the maltreatment and discrimination many of the maids face, and makes it her mission to bring to the surface the truths hidden behind many a closed door of socialites in the deep south.The Help by Kathryn Stockett Putnam, 464 pp. Elizabeth Leefolt, one of Skeeter’s best friends – Skeeter interviews a number of the local maids, to find out what it’s really like to work as a maid in 1960s Mississippi. With the help of Aibileen Clark – a black, God-loving and church going maid who is currently working for Mrs. After applying for a job in publishing in New York, she is encouraged by the editor to put forward an idea for a book, and, inspired by the treatment of the coloured help in both her own and her friends’ households, she begins to write. We meet Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a white socialite who, much to her mother’s annoyance, dreams of being a journalist while her socialite friends are getting married and having children. The Help is a poignant and powerful tale that deals with themes of race, prejudice and inequality in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. I bought a copy on the day that I discovered a beautiful Barnes & Noble within walking distance of my apartment, unable as I am to visit a bookshop and leave empty handed. Given its setting and subject it also made the perfect addition to my all American reading pile while living stateside. It’s not one that I can remember who it was that told me to read it, but when I was recently forced to leave it unchecked on a how well read are you quiz I knew it was time to get a copy. The Help is one of those books that has been on my reading list for a long while.

Kathryn stockett's the help