On the one hand I wonder, Was this really my story to tell? On the other hand, I just wanted the story to be told. But the truth is that I didn't think anybody was going to read it.

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.