The book is set in 1960's America when black people worked as maids for white people and were treated rather unfavourably (to put it in a nice-ish way). The story is portrayed through 3 different perspectives; Skeeter, a revolutionary white person who feels change is necessary; Aibileen, a black maid who lives alone but works for a lazy and questionable white person; and Minny, another black maid who is rather feisty and has an emotional story to tell. The story follows them as their lives intertwine and illustrates the troubles they all face.
The most poignant line in the book for me was as Minny describes life as a black person in Mississippi working for ungrateful and demanding white people, 'this is hell, it is never going to change.' Although this is a fictional story with fictional characters, I can't help but think this was the attitude amongst black people in America at the time. If someone told them, in 50 years time, a black person would be the President of the United States, they would probably laugh in their face.
I don't want to give too much away as the book is very good and should be read by everyone!!
Apparently, this book has now been made into a film, I will be waiting for that to come on Sky; however I have no expectations that it will be anywhere near as good as the book. In case you couldn't tell, I loved this story and highly recommend it to all book lovers...and everyone else for that matter!!
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