Although my primary reading for a while has been Beryl Bainbridge, in preparation for BB Week which starts tomorrow, I have also been listening to this as an audio book. I absolutely loved it. I know it's been controversial, as it deals with race relations on the southern United States in the 1960s and though written by a white woman, much of it is told from the point of view of the 'coloured' domestic servants, but that did not bother me. Perhaps someone will tell me I am wrong, but I just found it completely rivetting from beginning to end.
I'm often rather late in the day in getting to contemporary fiction, and this one has been made into a film which I have yet to see, so perhaps you have all read it already. If you haven't, this novel, set in Jackson Mississippi, is the story of four women, who you can see on the cover. They are Aibileen, who works for Elizabeth Leefold, Minny, who at the start works for Hilly Holbrook's mother, Eugenia, known as Skeeter, an aspiring writer, and Hilly herself. The novel begins at a bridge party at Elizabeth's house, attended by Skeeter, Hilly and her mother. Abileen, who is telling this part of the story, listens to the conversation, in which Hilly is telling the rest of the women about her new initiative -- that every house in Jackson should have a separate bathroom for the coloured help, because "they have different diseases than we do". Elizabeth, weak and foolish, objects that she and her husband can't afford it, but Skeeter waits till the other women have left and asks Abileen if she doesn't think it's time things changed. This sows the seeds for the whole complex plot, as Skeeter and Abileen start a secret project, interviewing a number of maids about their experiences working for white women and editing the interviews into a book.
I'm not at all surprised this was a best seller. Moving and horrific in about equal measure, it confronts the civil rights struggle of the 1960s and tells of it from the inside. The misery and humiliation suffered by the maids is beyond belief, except that it has to be believed because it is clearly true. Hilly, the villain of the piece, is undoubtedly monstrous, but unfortunately only too convincing. It seemed to me almost incredible that this kind of thing was going on in many of our lifetimes. The novel ends on a note of hope -- things have certainly changed, or begun to change -- but there are no certainties and it would be great to know if Skeeter's career was going to take off or whether Abileen would fulfil her new aspirations. As for Hilly -- well, you'll have to read it if you haven't already -- she certainly gets her comeuppance in one way, but it's doubtful whether she will ever reform.
I'm now going to watch the film and hoping it isn't a disappointment.