The Help

By: Kathryn Stockett

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

Length: 18 hrs and 19 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

Critic Reviews

"This heartbreaking story is a stunning debut from a gifted talent." ( Atlanta Journal)

“It's graceful and real, a compulsively readable story of three women who watch the Mississippi ground shifting beneath their feet as the words of men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Bob Dylan pervade their genteel town. When folks at your book club wonder what to read next month, go on and pitch this wholly satisfying novel with confidence.” ( Entertainment Weekly)

"[A] wise, poignant novel...You'll catch yourself cheering out loud." ( People Magazine)

The Help

Excellent story! The voices were very good and added to the enjoyment of the story.

"The Help (Unabridged)".

Speaks volumes about the growth our nation has had in 240 years. The Help will Help all to know the struggle the South has had.

Great!

I loved this book. This was one of my favorites. Great story and the narrators were so good. Having multiple narrators made the book come alive. I just loved it!

My favorite book of 2009

I couldn't wait to listen to the next chapter, but I didn't want it to end. So good I went out and bought two hard cover copies for friends who don't "listen." I fear they won't get the full flavor, but it is still a wonderful experience.

Enjoyed this as much or more than Water for Elephants--my 2008 favorite.

Simple amazing story and narration

I love an opportunity to learn while becoming absorbed in the story and the characters. The Help is a sad, inspiring and enriching story. The narration will have you hearing the character's voices long after the book has ended, all the while, learning more about our nation's trying civil rights movement. I highly recommend The Help.

Loved it... just LOVED IT

Wonderful book; excellent narrators. Aibileen was so real to me... I've never rooted as hard for a relationship as I did for Aibileen and Mae Mobley, although Minny and Miss Celia came in a close second.

fantastic!

Great story. Fabulous readers!

Wise choice for my first Audible Book

What an excellent introduction to the world of Audible.com books - I don't think I could have made a better choice! I grew up in Georgia and North Carolina, not Mississippi, but nothing in the book struck me as unbelievable. Outrageously shameful - yes; unbelievable - unfortunately, no.

Although history records February 1, 1960 as the date of Greensboro's first official Woolworth sit in, I know first hand that plans were in the works at least two years earlier. During my senior year in 1958, our college officials heard rumors that students from the two Negro colleges across town were planning to visit the local Woolworth lunch counter. Students at my all white college were threatened with expulsion if we joined our counterparts in any civil disobedience.

I wish I'd had Miss Skeeter's courage in 1958.

Absolutely Excellent!

This is an amazing book and the narrations were superb! Highly recommended!

Excellent performances!!!

Fantastic book, fantastic narration. Makes you realize just how far we have come in such a short time for Barack Obama to be president today.