THE HELP

I am reading this book that Cookie gave me for my birthday. I can't put it down (although I have to). Here is a synopsis of the book and a review from the Washington Post.

"Synopsis

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town...

The Washington Post - Sybil Steinberg

Southern whites' guilt for not expressing gratitude to the black maids who raised them threatens to become a familiar refrain. But don't tell Kathryn Stockett because her first novel is a nuanced variation on the theme that strikes every note with authenticity. In a page-turner that brings new resonance to the moral issues involved, she spins a story of social awakening as seen from both sides of the American racial divide."

We had a sweet lady who was our "help" while I was growing up and her name was Pansy. We loved her so much. I know she loved us too. We were not among the "White, snobby society" that was obviously there in the south. Pansy died many years ago and the last time I saw her was at Cookie or Lorna's wedding reception. A long time ago.

Thanks for the book Cookie. I really have enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.