I grew up in the time frame described in The Help. I was the white child loved and nurtured by the black maid who ate in the kitchen and used a separate bathroom. I can not explain how amazing and freeing it is to finally read something like this book that captures such a difficult and confusing part of my young life so clearly. My mind will never really be able to come to rest with what my childhood taught me about race. I have an illusion that all black women are loving and a guilt for every bad thing all black people have suffered. I know the truth but my emotions are still stuck back in my young years where the black and white people I loved so much seemed not to notice all the meaness. I have long ago given up trying to resolve my feeling but it is very good to know my experience is understandable and shared by others who lived through this time of social insanity.