The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed."

Yep, one of the most well-known books of the year. It didn't disappoint, though; I really liked it and it never got boring and it occasionally stomped on my heart a little. All necessary qualities. All of the characters were real and complex and likable where intended. I was kinda surprised to find that the chapters written from the voice of Aibileen and Minny actually mimicked their dialect, which made it more interesting to read and visualize. Soo, yeah. It's a tiny bit thick, but it's totally worth reading. You don't even have to be interested in historical fiction; I personally pretty much stay away from that genre, but I really enjoyed this one. Two thumbs up. Try to get it at Kettleson or MEHS, but I know from experience it's really hard to get your hands on. If you can't find it anywhere else, check in with Mr. Hedrick at SHS. He might be able to help.