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)

this is my 5th time reading it

I love this book so much that even when I see the movie I go back to the book again

Beautiful

This book is simply beautiful. It is full of raw emotion, and doesn't shy away from the difficult narratives. I loved the movie and I loved this book even more. Audible brought the characters to life in a refreshing way.

A MUST read

This is a brilliantly narrated story of the triumph of humanity over convention. We baby boomers all lived through it, each of us in our own place and our own experience... Kathryn Sockett transcends both time, place and race in her intricate weaving of the character of giving and taking. The narrators are just plain dazzling.

Wonderful. Heartfelt.

I will always love this book. Whether I read it myself or listen to it.

Love it!!

I was planning on listening to this audio like a couple of hours every day, but it was impossible to keep it out of my ears, yes it was that Good!!! It is a wonderful with all the great elements of a great novel and more, because on top of great plot it mekes us feel closed to the problems and daily lives of every character black or white, male or female...

amazing cast and writing

This book is amazing and the performances are wonderful! I truly enjoyed this audio book performance

I loved this book!

loved it
I watched the movie long before the book. The book was still captivating.

Excellent Every time!!!

loved it even after i read it, watched the movie and now listened to it 🙏👍🏽❤️

The Help

Loved, loved, loved this book in it’s entirety! While the story was interesting, educational, heartfelt, and entertaining, the narration was most enjoyable!!

Extraordinary...

I read this at a particularly difficult time in my life and true to it's title it Helped me through. This is a touching, heartfelt tale of a time not so long gone. It brings a certain humanity back to a time that has seem to lost touch with it.