Jackson, Mississippi, early 1960s. As the civil rights movement heats up, a young white woman decides to write a book--telling the stories of the black women who work as maids and the white women who employ them. There are 3 narrators of this book; Skeeter, the author herself, whose close relationship with the maid who raised her inspired her to start the project; Aibileen, who loves raising "her" white children until they become old enough to become racist; and Minny, outspoken and abused, whose subtle revenge on a particularly nasty character becomes a pivotal point. This book is at once funny and sad; there are stories here of love as well as stories of violence and racism. And there is a whole plot thread about toilets. At one point Skeeter finds a copy of the Jim Crow laws in the library; I had never read them before either, and, like Skeeter, I found them (or, at least, the excerpt in the book) shocking. This book was hard to put down.