Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood --- where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned --- Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women --- mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends --- view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor and hope, THE HELP is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.