The Help

By: Kathryn Stockett

Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, Cassandra Campbell

Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

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 17th 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 to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another.

This edition now includes the afterword "Too Little, Too Late—Kathryn Stockett in Her Own Words", as read by the author.

Bonus Audio: Hear an exclusive interview with Kathryn Stockett.

©2009 Kathryn Stockett, Cover Art: (c) 2011 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC (P)2009 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“The two principal maid characters...leap off the page in all their warm, three dimensional glory...[A] winning novel.” (The New York Times)

“This could be one of the most important pieces of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird…If you read only one book...let this be it.” (NPR.org)

“A beautiful portrait of a fragmenting world.” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Wow!

Possibly the best audiobook in my library. Five star writing. If I could give narration six stars, this is the book I'd give it to.

Fantastic!

This is my best audible download to date! I couldn't put my ipod down. You feel as though you're living the story...Excellent and highly recommended!

One of my All-Time Favorites

I loved this book! It shows a side of the racial tensions in the south during the 1960s that is rarely seen. The way the characters brought off "the Sting" was sheer genius. I just couldn't wait to get back to the reading of this book every day, and when I finished it, I felt that I had lost some of my best friends, and I missed them. After reading it, I listened to it on Audible, and came to love it even more. Then I started over and listened to it again. For someone who rarely rereads fiction, this is saying a lot. This is a fabulous recording of a fabulous story. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone and anyone. It is bound to become a classic. Just writing about it makes me want to start it over!

WoW!!

I am a non-fiction & podcast junkie so I listen to a lot of audio books. I have around 60 on my ipod as we speak. This Work of Fiction is WOW! The audio version is fabulous! It has to be one of the best books I have listened to hands down and I am only 1/4 way into it. Well better go put my buds back in my ears as I cannot put this book down!

Best book I've read (sic) in a long time

I really enjoyed the development of the characters, the timeperiod backdrop, and the story. Some wonderfully surprising twists kept it very interesting. I loved all of the characters, even the hateful ones. I would love to see a sequel about how some of the lives continued to evolve.

Wonderful Book

I enjoyed every part of this book, the narrators were superb, the book was enlightening, and I did not want it to end. We often hear of slavery but the young have no clue there was a time in our country, decades after the Civil War, where life was insulting and hard for people of color. I grew up in a time when the local department store had separate restrooms and water fountains; but, I did not see this disrespect for other human beings. I am thankful to have heard this with the southern accent and I appreciate the author adding the humor to make it easier to swallow. Absolutely loved this novel.

Wonderful!

I couldn't stop listening to this book. When I wasn't listening, I was thinking about it. Really interesting story. I love historical fiction and this one isn't from that long ago. I've spent some time in the South and found a lot has changed, but a lot hasn't. It's a whole other world from my west coast existence, and that is partly why I was so facinated with this story.

The characters are well rounded and each narrator's part is as good as the last, and the next. I can't say enough good about ths book. It's no wonder it was Audible's Book of the Year. Great listen!

A Pleasure to listen to

I enjoyed this book incredibly. I couldnt stop listening. The characters are wonderfully rich and engrossing. The narration was first class. I loved the accents and dialects. I was lost in the place and time(Mississippi 1960s). Enjoy your time with this book.

Couldn't Stop Listening!

This is a wonderful book! Usually I listen to my audio books on the way to and from work, and any other commutes I might have. This is the first audio book I have listened to in the kitchen while cooking dinner, in the bathroom while getting ready for work in the morning, in bed while falling asleep, and anywhere else I could possibly manage it. I simply could not stop listening; it was a fabulous story! Every one of the characters (even the mean ones), are interesting. It is one of those books that as you are nearing the ending, you start to slow down, because you really don't want it to end. It is really, really going to be tough finding something comparable to listen to after this.

Lovely book

The ending was just a little weak compared to the rest of the book. I feel that Aibileen would not have let herself be in the predicament at the end. I won't give up the ending but I'm sure others feel the same as I do. The book was a "page turner" or should I say an audio extravaganza that couldn't be put down.