On February 10th, 2009, Kathryn Sockett released her debut novel, The Help. Based in 1962, Sockett tells the story of a writer, Skeeter, fresh out of college and looking to find her place as a writer. Aibileen and Minny are best friends and black women workers for white families who become fed up with the treatment they endure. They help Skeeter in her new story as she is looking to write about the experience of black workers working for white people. Sockett portrays the realities of abusive work environments for Black women, along with the advantages of speaking up against the oppressor. Since the novel’s debut, it has won multiple awards, sold over 11 million copies, and was turned into a movie adaptation in 2011. If you enjoyed The Help, you’ll enjoy these four recommendations for your next read.
The Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Secret Life Of Bees portrays Lily, a fourteen-year-old girl, and Roseleen, her nanny and housekeeper, as they run away together after Roseleen was arrested trying to register to vote. Being led to a town by a Black Mary picture that once belonged to Lily’s mother, they find August and her family. Being taken in by the family, Lily becomes aware of the depths of racism along with her own internal racism and learns to make a home with the Tiburon community.
Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas
Set during the Freedom Summer of 1964, Freshwater Road follows Celeste as she makes her way to Pineyville, Mississippi, known for its lynching in 1959, after volunteering to help register voters. Coming from the North, Celeste views harsh realities as she battles complex emotions over the violence and racism she witnesses as she teaches a small group of kids by day and helps adults with voter registration by night. Nicholas’ work has been repeatedly praised and is known to be one of the best novels written about the Civil Rights Movement.
Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
With themes of mental illness, racism, and friendship, Saving Ceecee Honeycutt follows Ceecee, a girl with an abusive father and a mother who has a mental illness, as she goes to live with her aunt after her mother was shot to death. As she acclimates to her new environment, she befriends Oletta, her aunt’s cook, along with people in her family and people in the community. Between learning about the history of slavery and close calls with the KKK, Ceecee grows up and learns of the realities around her, along with learning how to grieve her mother’s death.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beloved is based in 1873 and tells the story of Sethe, a former slave who escaped to Ohio and settled down in Cincinnati with her daughter, Denver, but even after eighteen years, her past still haunts her and the home. When the ghost of her eldest daughter materializes at their doorstep and comes to live with them, Sethe must decide if she will forever live with the hauntings of her past or if she will be able to let go and move forward with her and her family’s futures.
The Help and other works like it highlight the importance of remembering history and the reminders of our current realities. The Civil Rights Movement did a lot to help with the mistreatment towards black people – and other minorities as an extension – but there is still a lot of work to be done, and with novels such as these few, society can remember and evaluate as a lot of these issues still hold prevalent to this day.
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Find these books and more on our Diversifying Your TBR: Beautiful Black Voices in Literature and Stimulating Novels That Challenge the Status Quo bookshelves on Bookshop.org.
