Readers Find Inspiration in Story of "The Help"

Don't hate Kathryn Stockett because she is blonde and funny and has a best-selling novel, "The Help."

For the hundreds of fans - mostly women - who turned out for Stockett's book signing and appearance at Reston Community Center on Tuesday, it is just the opposite, in fact.

They love the author. They love her writing, and how "The Help" brought to life the colorful  characters - black maids and the wealthy white women who employed them in pre-Civil Rights era Mississippi - so vividly.

Reston-area fans filled the CenterStage Theater at RCC, as well as an overflow room for 300 in the middle of the community center. They came with neighbors and book-club buddies, mothers and daughters, co-workers and friends.

"I read the book for two book clubs," said Linda Walker, who brought members of her neighborhood book club from North Reston. "We talked about where we were at the time the book was set, our own personal stories. I thought the characters were amazing."

Deanna Nesburg of Vienna, 29, wasn't born until after the Civil Rights movement took hold. But as an African American, she identified with the characters in the book.

"It is hard to believe, but some people are treated (poorly, like many of the maids)," said Nesburg, an accountant. "Not just African Americans, not immigrants, people who are different. Reading 'The Help,' it is easy for me to step into my Grandma's shoes and what she was thinking during that time."

Stockett, 41, whose appearance here was part of the 12th annual Fall For the Book Festival, says she started writing "The Help," after Sept. 11, 2001, when she was living in Manhattan and longed to hear the comforting voice of Demetrie, a black woman who worked for Stockett's family in Jackson, MS, for 32 years.

"Demetrie had a profound effect on me," said Stockett, who added that the book's character, the wise Aibileen, was based on Demetrie. "She went out of her way for me to know, that at least in her eyes, I was important."

In the book, a young white woman, aspiring writer Skeeter, starts gathering the stories of the black maids in town to turn into a book. At the time, it was illegal in the South for blacks and whites to congregate in once place, so not only did Skeeter risk the ire of the town and the jobs of most of the maids, she was also breaking the law.

There are sympathetic, amusing and despicable characters on both sides of the tracks  in Stockett's 1963 Jackson.

"The book is about vastly different women - black and white, rich and poor, and how they choose to treat each other every day," said Stockett. "Skeeter asking questions is a reminder that race is still a hard topic to discuss even so many years later."

Stockett was rather self-deprecating when talking about the success of her first novel. The book has been translated into 38 languages, and a movie version is set for release next year. She is working on her next book, which takes place during the Depression.

Still, she carries around a file of more than 60 rejection letters as if she can't believe her own success. She offered to let an audience member read them.

"It just got to be like a game," she said of the process of trying to get "The Help" published. "I didn't really think anyone was going to read it."