The Help

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett is a remarkable global bestseller that also inspired an Oscar-nominated film, now for the first time available as a Penguin Essential. It takes readers into the bygone, inequitable world of Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962—a place where black maids are entrusted with raising white children, yet deemed unworthy of trust with the family silver. The story follows Aibileen, who is tending to her seventeenth white child while grappling with the pain of her own son’s tragic demise; Minny, whose sharp wit is matched only by her culinary skills; and Miss Skeeter, a young white woman recently returned from college, curious about the sudden absence of her cherished maid. Against societal expectations, these three women form an unlikely bond. As they bravely break through social and racial barriers, they find strength in each other and forge an unbreakable alliance. Each woman pursues her own truth, and their collective experiences weave a narrative that is both remarkable and poignant.