Sunshine Smile Smile itibaren Mangatainoka, New Zealand itibaren Mangatainoka, New Zealand

If anyone needed to tell their stories, the characters in this book definitely did. This was a wonderful read about the black women who work for white families in the late 1950's and early 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi. The story centers around Skeeter Phelan who aspires to be a journalist and decides to write a book based on interviews with "the help", the black women who work for white families. Aibeleen has been working for white familes for years and is going on 50 years old and on the edge of retirement. Minny has an abusive husband and more than a handful of kids and always seems to get the raw end of the deal from the white women she has worked for until now. It's not just a story about racial tension and boundaries, but about relationships and the human experience no matter what the color of a person's skin.