Its 1962 and Eugenia (Skeeter) Davis has just graduated from Ole Miss without her MRS degree much to her mothers chagrin. She returns to her plantation home in Jackson, Mississippi. Shes sad to return there but looks forward to seeing the maid who raised her, Constantine. Only Constantine is gone and no one will tell her what really happened.
Skeeters goal in life is to be a writer and to that end, she applied for an editor position with a magazine in New York. Although, she had no where near enough experience for the position, the person who received her resume called her and gave her some sound advice get a job writing at a newspaper, no matter what the position and write about things that could be controversial.
Skeeter takes the advice to heart and gets a job at the local paper writing the housekeeping hints and tips column and begins to search for a controversial topic to write about.
Of course, Skeeter has no idea how to answer the household hints letters. She enlists the help of her friend, Elizabeth Leefolts, maid, Aibeleen. Aibeleen is raising her 17th white child. After her first white child, she has deliberately chosen to only raise the children until they reach the elementary school age and then she moves on to a new family. She is also mourning the death of her only son who died when his bosses looked the other way and didnt get him the medical help he needed quickly enough.
One of Aibeleens best friends is Minny Jackson. Minny is the best cook in the county, but shes a mouthy woman. Something that doesnt sit well with her bosses and her last boss is one of the most influential women in Jackson and shes made it nearly impossible for Minny to get a new job. She finds a job working for a woman, Celia Foote, so new in town that she doesnt know about Minnys reputation. Plus, Celia has her own secrets and is pretty much rejected by the Jackson society women which is strange considering who her husband is.
Skeeter comes up with an idea for a book writing in first person, about being a black woman serving in the white households. After much work, Aibeleen agrees to be a subject for the book and Skeeter is thrilled that her mentor has agreed to help publish the story, but Skeeter is going to need to talk to at least a dozen black maids to write the book. Aibeleen helps her to gain other maids confindence to tell her their stories.
This is a very dangerous story to tell. Skeeter cant let anyone know what she is doing and the maids most certainly dont want their bosses to find out they were contributing to the story. And, then her mentor tells her there is one last thing she has to get for the book the story of her maid, Constantine. And, she is having a hard time getting that story out of anyone in either community.
The story is told in three voices: Skeeter, Aibeleen and Minny. The flow between all the womens story is very well done. The indignities that all three endure for not conforming to their role in society often made me mad. I found myself not wanting to put the book down. In fact, I stayed up reading until after 3:00 am on a work night just finish it.
Skeeters goal in life is to be a writer and to that end, she applied for an editor position with a magazine in New York. Although, she had no where near enough experience for the position, the person who received her resume called her and gave her some sound advice get a job writing at a newspaper, no matter what the position and write about things that could be controversial.
Skeeter takes the advice to heart and gets a job at the local paper writing the housekeeping hints and tips column and begins to search for a controversial topic to write about.
Of course, Skeeter has no idea how to answer the household hints letters. She enlists the help of her friend, Elizabeth Leefolts, maid, Aibeleen. Aibeleen is raising her 17th white child. After her first white child, she has deliberately chosen to only raise the children until they reach the elementary school age and then she moves on to a new family. She is also mourning the death of her only son who died when his bosses looked the other way and didnt get him the medical help he needed quickly enough.
One of Aibeleens best friends is Minny Jackson. Minny is the best cook in the county, but shes a mouthy woman. Something that doesnt sit well with her bosses and her last boss is one of the most influential women in Jackson and shes made it nearly impossible for Minny to get a new job. She finds a job working for a woman, Celia Foote, so new in town that she doesnt know about Minnys reputation. Plus, Celia has her own secrets and is pretty much rejected by the Jackson society women which is strange considering who her husband is.
Skeeter comes up with an idea for a book writing in first person, about being a black woman serving in the white households. After much work, Aibeleen agrees to be a subject for the book and Skeeter is thrilled that her mentor has agreed to help publish the story, but Skeeter is going to need to talk to at least a dozen black maids to write the book. Aibeleen helps her to gain other maids confindence to tell her their stories.
This is a very dangerous story to tell. Skeeter cant let anyone know what she is doing and the maids most certainly dont want their bosses to find out they were contributing to the story. And, then her mentor tells her there is one last thing she has to get for the book the story of her maid, Constantine. And, she is having a hard time getting that story out of anyone in either community.
The story is told in three voices: Skeeter, Aibeleen and Minny. The flow between all the womens story is very well done. The indignities that all three endure for not conforming to their role in society often made me mad. I found myself not wanting to put the book down. In fact, I stayed up reading until after 3:00 am on a work night just finish it.
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