Penguin Books Australia

Enter a vanished world: Jackson,  Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't  trusted not to steal the silver . . . 
 
There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the  hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is  nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from  College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.
 
Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends;  fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to  cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is  in a search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story  to tell .

. .

'Movies based on books you really love, often disappoint. Oh joy oh joy, the big screen version of Kathryn Stockett's huge bestseller The Help, is every bit as sensational as the book. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962, two black women decide to spill the beans on life as maids in white households to a young white woman who dreams of becoming a writer. Equal amounts of courage and malice swirl about this tale of racism, unexpected friendship, empowerment and the tug of war between the desire to fit in and the need to be true to yourself. Emma Stone shines as the bolshie Skeeter and the poisonous Hilly is played with syrupy nastiness by Bryce Dallas Howard. But it's Octavia Spencer as the chocolate pie baking Minny, who nearly walks away with the movie.

The Help opens in Australia on September 1 and in New Zealand on September 15  - don't miss it. (And take some tissues).' Movie review by Carol George