What the... why did I wait this long to read Susan Gregg Gilmore after winning Bermuda Onion's giveaway in 2010? The author will be at the Virginia Festival of the Book this weekend so it finally gave me the deadline I needed to put it to the top of the list. Again, why did I wait?

This heartwarming tale of Catherine Grace in the 1970s in Ringgold, Georgia was a sweetheart read and I enjoyed the evolution of one young girl wanting more out of life. Dreaming about bigger and better beyond her town while spending every Saturday sitting at the Dairy Queen picnic table eating her favorite Dilly Bars, Catherine Grace never knew that by the time she was eighteen, she would learn leaving home doesn't always work the way you want it to, and it certainly isn't always the answer to fulfilling your dreams.

At the young ages of six and four, Catherine Grace and younger sister Martha Ann lost their mother in a fluke accident when she was picking blueberries by the river. Without their mother, they are raised under the compassionate eye of their father, Ringgold's favorite preacher (third in the family line of watching over the town's flock) and Gloria Jean, the next-door neighbor who becomes their surrogate mother. It's Gloria Jean who actually becomes my favorite character, the firecracker who doesn't go to church, has been married five times, and always knows just the right shade of nail polish to wear for every event. For Catherine Grace and Martha Ann, she is their guide for all things young women need to learn.

At once sweet, insightful, and forgiving, Susan Gregg Gilmore's debut novel genuinely tugged at my heartstrings, and just like *that* (snaps fingers), I was tearing up. I was touched by the heartfelt writing and Gilmore's knack to believably grow Catherine Grace's perspective from a young girl to her teen years and finally, the blessed adulthood she's been waiting for. With eclectic and quirky characters throughout town representing every spectrum of any town in America, Ringgold humorously becomes representative not just of towns in the South, but most importantly of people everywhere. Ranging from gossipy and spiteful to loving and thoughtful, Ringgold has it all. The ending certainly tied everything in a perfect bow, but each endearing moment Catherine Grace experienced made me absolutely fine with it.

Susan Gregg Gilmore's debut was a sweet delight to read and I'm looking forward to the next book from her on my shelf. I can't wait to her speak at the Virginia Festival of the Book!

Passages of Note (an example of an unexpected chuckle while reading):

"Lord, thank you for bringing your children together tonight for fellowship. We praise you for all you've given us, and please guide us as we prepare for our Christmas pageant. Touch Jimmy Blanchard with your healing power 'cause his mama says he has mono, and uh, you better go ahead and touch Lucy Mills while you're at it. And, one more thing, we know you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, but if you could lead the Ringgold Tigers to victory Friday night, well, we'd love to win one before the end of the season. In your name we pray, Amen." (p.104)

Others said (I know there are more out there! Let me know so I can add your link.):
Bermuda Onion

FTC Disclosure: I received this copy autographed by the author from blogger Bermuda Onion in her giveaway in 2010.

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Release Date: 6/9/2009
Pages: 304

About the Author

Susan Gregg Gilmore is the author of Looking for Salvation at the Diary Queen and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, she attended the University of Virginia and graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. She has chaired book fairs, taught Vacation Bible School, while also writing for the Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and the Chattanooga News-Free Press. She lives in Nashville with her husband and has three daughters.

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Yes, yes. You know I've been struggling with audiobooks lately, right? But... it's probably not hard to figure out how incredible I thought The Help by Kathryn Stockett was with the these two clues:

I finished all eighteen hours in 2 and 1/2 days.

My husband loved it. And he only listened to the last four hours on our road trip Friday night.

I felt this story was an experience, and since it is written in the true Southern charm and dialect of extraordinary women, it's one I believe can only be fully appreciated by listening to the audio version.

I couldn't stop listening to it. Every waking, non-working moment while I traveled to Dallas for business last week was spent with this audiobook. While I applied my make-up or steamed my business suit before the meeting, I listened to the words of Kathryn Stockett come to absolute life in the voices of sweet Aibileen, sassy Minny, and young and compassionate Skeeter. Enraptured. That is what I was. Compelled by the music of the voices speaking through, I was swept up in this incredible story.

The Help is Kathryn Stockett's story of three women in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. Not only was it a turbulent time in America's history with the beginnings of the civil rights movement, feminism, the rumblings of Vietnam, the assassination of Kennedy, and more, all of this was even more tightly drawn in Mississippi. Told from the three women's perspectives in their own chapters, Aibileen and Minny are maids working in the homes of white families, and Miss Skeeter is a young white woman who, like many others who grew up in wealthy white families in the South during that time, was raised by a black woman. And as Miss Skeeter is the idealistic young woman determined to become a writer, she is advised to write something that makes her uncomfortable as she composes it. It is only then when it is uncomfortable will it be something truly valuable. While each character has their own personal turmoil that they contend with privately, it is together that they find a common ground and friendship that is unshakeable. Kathryn Stockett has crafted a classic of the deep South and the black women who worked for, and raised, the white families in one of the most tremulous moments in American history.

Without question, I loved this story. Tears sprang to my eyes when the audio concluded. All stories have to end, but this one... this one I wanted to keep going. I immediately missed the characters as soon as it ended. The narrators excelled at relaying the perfect Southern charm into the rhythm and atmosphere, and as the book is written exactly as one would speak, the audio leaps to life and creates an experience unlike any other audiobook I have listened to. Because of this, and in advance of the film to be released by Dreamworks Studios this year in August, I needed to share with you these amazing narrators and where you can find them. I can't wait to do a deeper dive into the film's cast later as well. If Dreamworks can capture the same magic that Kathryn Stockett created in her writing that was beautifully produced in the audio version, then we could potentially see a multitude of Academy Award nominations issued in 2012.

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The narrators of The Help and their characters in this audio production (along with my thoughts):

Aibileen, narrated by Bahni Turpin. Aibileen is an older woman, having raised seventeen babies in her career. She is the voice of reason in the story, the one to which others seek out and find comfort in. With a gorgeous voice, Turpin is engaging through and through. There is just this easy fluidity to her narration that hypnotized me each time Aibileen's sections came up. And she was perfect for the voices of the children, the ones Aibileen cared for. I found myself smiling, easily picturing in my mind her interactions with the little girl Mae Mobley.

I have become a diehard fan of Bahni Turpin and loved her voice so much that I have just downloaded the audiobooks Precious and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks since she's the narrator for both!

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Minny, narrated by Octavia Spencer. A sassy woman who could possibly be the best cook in all of Mississippi, Minny has a hard time holding down a steady job because she's not one to keep her thoughts to herself. If she doesn't like something, why hold back? Octavia Spencer had the perfect voice! I laughed each time Minny interacted with Miss Celia, a sweet Marilyn Monroe-esque woman who suddenly is launched into high society when she left her poor upbringing to marry a wealthy man. The problem is that she can't take care of her house, and even cooking is a disaster. She secretly hires Minny for these things so she can hopefully impress her husband. Octavia Spencer's voice sparkled in the tough scenes of an abusive relationship with her husband and then later made me cheer out loud. Loved, loved her. I cannot imagine anyone else reading for Minny and can't imagine anyone else playing her in the film.

So, according to Entertainment Weekly, I was thrilled that Octavia Spencer is going to play the role in the film! Yay!! She is also a veteran actress of Hollywood and has also known Kathryn Stockett for ten years and was a factor to the inspiration for the character of Minny.

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Miss Skeeter, narrated by Jenna Lamia. The character of Miss Skeeter has graduated from college and returned to Jackson, Mississippi. Miss Skeeter was raised by a black woman named Constantine, one that she considers more motherly than her own blood. But now Constantine left after years working for the family, and no one is talking about why Constantine left. Was she fired, or did she quit? Haunted by this absence in her life, Miss Skeeter also doesn't want to be like every other girl in Jackson who gets married and has kids, and is instead determined to be a writer. Jenna Lamia carries the voice of this naive and sweet young girl to the forefront. Her voice smoothly cut through the story to poignantly deliver the youthful idealism representative of the 1960s.

Audiobook listeners may also recognize her from The Secret Life of Bees, which placed her as a finalist for Best Female Narrator in 2003, and Girl With a Pearl Earring. She also is an established actress and was in The Fighter, alongside Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg.

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About the Author

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. She currently lives in Atlanta with her family. The Help is her first novel.

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Happy Reading (Listening),

Coffee and a Book Chick