stocktonbookclubut@yahoo.com http://www.stocktonbookclubut.blogspot.com/ The Help byKathyrn Stockett (October’s Book Choice) The Help is a 2009 novel by American author Kathryn Stockett . The story is about African American maids working in white households in Jackson , Mississippi during the early 1960s. A USA Today article called it one of 2009's "summer sleeper hits".