Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' is The Hot Book This Summer

A debut novel set in 1960s Jackson, Miss., The Help has been building an audience through word of mouth, supportive booksellers and the publisher's relentless promotion of Stockett and her novel.

It has turned into one of summer's sleeper hits.

"There's a moment right now for this book," says Amy Einhorn, whose Putnam imprint publishes The Help. "It's the tipping point where people are telling other people that they just need to read this."

Stockett's novel tells the story of white Southerner Skeeter Phelan, 22, who persuades the African-American maids in Jackson to help her write a book about their experiences — good and bad — working for white families.

"The story is so well told," says Rona Brinlee, owner of The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach, Fla. "You can feel the time period so viscerally. You become so attached to these women. They are so at risk and you have to know what's going to happen to them. It's a page-turner." MORE