The Help

It's 1962 and 22-year-old Skeeter Phelan is just home from college. Anxious to become a writer, she's advised to write about what really disturbs her. The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women working as maids in her friends' households. She gets the help of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed many times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is shocking, but it brings pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams. Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this book has bestseller written all over it.