As children, we looked up to our maids and our nannies, who were playing in some ways the role of our mothers. They were paid to be nice to us, to look after us, teach us things and take time out of their day to be with us. As a child you think of these people as an extension of your mother.

The Help took her five years to complete and the book was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett. Reflective of her first novel Stockett was very close to an African-American domestic worker. A lawsuit was filed in a Mississippi court by Ablene Cooper a maid who used to work for Stockett's brother.

Kathryn Stockett is an American novelist.