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How did you find the way to the city?
In this wonderful book, set in Jackson, Mississippi in the years 1962-1964, we meet three unforgettable women: Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young white woman, who is 22, a budding social activist and writer; Aibileen, a black maid raising her 17th white child; and Minny, Aibileen's best friend, who has just lost another job for speaking out to the white woman she worked for.Taking turns, each of these women tell their personal stories.Skeeter has a college degree, but is held back by her mother, who won't be satisfied until her only daughter is married, and by her family's position in the town. Unable to bear the bitchiness of the other young women of Jackson, she determines to go to New York to persue a writing career. Advised by an editor to write about things that "disturb" her, Skeeter makes friends with Aibileen, and through her, Minny, and begins the writing of the book that will change all of their lives.Aibileen has been a black maid in Jackson for many years, raising 17 white children, yet unable to even use the same bathroom as her white employers. She has experienced many injustices and indignities in her life. She has also known tragedy. Her son, Treelore, was 24 when he died in a work related accident. While loading timbers onto the loading dock at the mill where he worked, he slipped off the dock, falling onto the asphalt. A man driving the tractor to the dock rolled right over him, crushing him to death, while his boss and fellow workers stood by and did nothing. Now, she is devoted to Mae Mobley LeFolt, the small daughter of the white woman she works for, a child that her mother resents and ignores most of the time.Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is married to an abusive man and has five children. She can cook like no one else, but she is the sassiest maid in Mississippi, and has a real problem saying nothing when she is insulted and abused by the white women she works for.  At her last job, after suffering numerous insults and charges of stealing, Minny has taken revenge on the daughter, the Terrible Awful Thing, that she tries to keep secret and that has gotten her fired for the umpteenth time. Now she works for a woman so new in the town that she is ignored by the long time residents and doesn't know about Minny's  "secret."Seemingly as different as can be, and kept apart by the cultural and social boundaries of the town, these three women will come together in secret to create a book that will destroy their lives as they currently exist, and yet will also empower each of them to break the boundaries, give them pride in themselves, and the hope and courage to pursue their dreams.These characters are so real, their voices so vivid, that they make you feel as if you know them, and can laugh and cry with them. Their life experiences are, by turns, touching, heart-wrenching, and historically accurate. These three strong, courageous, and hopeful women make this a book that you cannot put down and do not want to see end. I  truly loved this book, and highly recommend it. 