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)

What a story!!!

I couldn't imagine living in those times!!! You know, I watched this movie and the book is so much better. I don't appreciate the Author using the real Abelene in her book and then having the gaul to not acknowledge or compensate her. Anyhow, the story is phenomenal. I finished is less than a week. I really wished the ending had more of a bang. For a story that is so bold, the ending was very dull.

Amazing book!

one of the best I have ever read. i love history and thoroughly enjoyed this. you will not regret it!

Couldn’t Stop Listening!

I downloaded this book in hopes to listen to it while driving from Houston TX to Savannah GA. Unfortunately I finished before my drive even began. I listened while cooking, cleaning, brushing my teeth and every other moment I could. “The Help” was very detailed, full of emotion, and kept me anxious the entire time. This was a great book for my first audible!!!

Wow

This was a JOY to listen to. My husband and I had to drive our son from upstate NY to Georgia for college and we literally did not want to get out of the car while listening to this book. He hates audio books (why, I have no idea) but I told him that we were listening or he was staying home. He LOVED it. I highly recommend it.

My Favorite Audiobook

I LOVE this audiobook. The Help is one of my favorite books, and I even thought the movie was great, but he Audiobook version is so well-done,. All of the actors/readers are fantastic-they completely immerse you in the characters and the story. Can't recommend it highly enough.

❤❤❤!!!

Generally I try to read/listen to the book before I see the movie...in this case I saw the movie first (Which I loved!). More often than not I feel sad that so much was left out of the movie that I had connected with while reading/listen the book. I think I will flip it in the future because I was able to enjoy the parts that were not in the movie rather than pissed that they had changed or left out so much that I felt was important to the storyline.

Great audio

I love each and every narrator. Made the book that much more interesting to read.

Makes you think

This book reminds me that we are all made by one God. We do not have a say in how he created us to be. We all need to show a little more love and appreciation for EVERYONE in our lives

MUST LISTEN!

This is my third time listening to this book, it will make you cry, laugh be angry and sad, especially if u were born poor white trash born in the 60's AND from the south.

Beautiful story

I loved this story. It made me laugh and cry. I recommend this book to anyone!