March 11, 2010. Mexico. The Help.

Kathryn Stockett is the author and Jackson, Mississippi is the place. The time is 1962, 1963 and 1964. It is well worth the read. I am anxious to talk to Christina and friends about the book. The book was recently published but I bet much has not changed in the past fifty years. The three protagonists rotate their stories and which are fascinating and intertwined although not really credible, that black maids would ever be interviewed in 1962 and talk to a white woman for publication. Part of the interest in the book is the risk these ladies were taking, just talking to a white woman about her bosses. In those years, safety was a major concern for the black community and to any one else that did not dance to the segregationists creed.

Safety was such a concern in the south that when Ken and I drove to Texas from Toronto in 1964 we were careful to travel west before heading south as we did not want to drive through the deep south with Canadian tags on the car. The CAA suggested that we might be deemed freedom fighters and they got shot. This is a fine first novel, interesting and believable. Now I look forward to hearing what the good folks in Jackson have to say about the book.