THE HELP.

THE HELP by KATHRYN STOCKETT.

Enter a vanished world; Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver.

There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from college, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.

Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends ; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another.

Each is in search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell ......
... Outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: "Ugly live up on the inside. Ugly be a hurtful, mean person. Is you one a them peoples?"

KEEP IT OR NOT?: A present from Husband dearest, this shall certainly be added to my collection after it has been passed around family and friends.

Oh my giddy aunt!!!!! I loved this debut novel, what a fantastic read. A book I couldn't put down and yet at the same time didn't want to read as that would bring my time with Aibileen, Minny (my favourite) and Skeeter to an end.

A wonderful story of loyalty, friendship, courage, prejudice and dangerous times The Help tells the story of a multitude of women who I laughed and cried with, whom I loved and detested along with a smattering of men who it has said to be said are, on the whole, a pretty dismal bunch.

Told mainly by 'colored' maids Aibileen and Minny and 'white' Miss Skeeter (also known as Eugenia), the novel  chronicles what happens when Skeeter embarks on ...... as if I'm going to tell you ....... which changes the lives of all three women.

Well researched, this is quite a scary book in that it is based in the early 60's (a relatively short time ago) when prejudice, segregation and discrimination were rife - the issue of the use of bathrooms for coloreds OR whites, a constant feature throughout the telling of the story, being a prime example of how ignorance breeds fear.

Ladies did you know that:

* 99% of all colored diseases are carried in the urine

* Whites can become permanently disabled by nearly all of these diseases because we lack immunities coloreds carry in their darker pigmentation

* Some germs carried by whites can also be harmful to coloreds too.

Protect yourself. Protect your children. Protect your help.

- From the Holbrooks.

Aah the delightful Hilly Holbrook (I mean this sarcastically of course), as much as I loved the funny, warm Minny, I detested this woman with all my being. Such ignorance, such prejudice, there was literally nothing to like about this character whom I'm sure was only concerned about the health of 'her help' in that their being ill may inconvenience the running of her household.

A truly wonderful read, If you only intend to read one more book this year then I highly recommend you consider this.

Book 31 in my 100+ Reading Challenge.