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)

Loved this book!

This book is fantastic! Would definitely listen to again! This was my first purchase on this app and I’m happy with my purchase 👌🏼

Beautifully written & narratored

This book is like butter in the southern heat. You melt seamlessly into another era, just savoring the experience. The characters are so addictive and you wish this was another 17 hours so you get to know them even more.

Raw Emotions

This book brings out the purines of what kindness to others will do and can cause an impact.

The Ending !

I was in so much tears at the end, literally bawling my eyes out. The reader did an amazing job tugging at the heartstrings!

Amazing

The voices were incredible, the story is heart wrenching, I absolutely listening even if you’be read it or seen it already

Great story and great performances

I listens to the story going to, and from work, and found myself so enthralled at times that I would miss my exit or pass my house without even realizing it. A great read, and wonderful performances by the voice actors.

Twelve years later….

Still one of the best audiobooks ever. Read to perfection. I LOL and cry—sometimes at the same time. I have listened to this book 50 times at least. It never gets old.

Love Love Love this book!

Loved the movie and never thought maybe I should listen to the book. Then I found out part of my son’s high school literature class reading for the summer was to read The Help. So I asked the ladies in our Book Club about read this book and letting my son join our Book Club. Well all I can say is he’s ready to discuss this book when school starts. This book opened his eyes and outs not only about people of color, but about women.
Side note: He asked me, “Mom, women really would not eat at an event because they are afraid their stomach might poke out? And my great grandma would do that? I answered him, “Yes, women then and now still worry about how they look.” He was shocked.
The women from our Book Club, my son, and I want to say this is wonderful book about friendship and brave women. We loved it, and Thank You to the author Kathryn Stockett.
~Christina~

A CLASSIC

As a product of the South I can remember being a chubby little girl w/my mother making me sit on her hands instead of the toilet seat at public restrooms. She said the “other people” carried different germs & that she’d rather scrub her hands than have me catch something. We always had a maid…most did & we have fond memories of these substitute mothers who we could tell all of our secrets. I so LOVE this book & the movie!

Great book

Great book could not stop listening. I will check out movie. Voice was great . Will try others from this author