Though I never lived in Jackson, I was in a sorority at Ole Miss in the 60's and met my husband there. My mother-in-law could have been Skeeter's mother and her "help" could have been any one of the black women Kathryn Stockett brought to life in this beautiful book. The dialect is accurate and the situations are believable. I could almost taste the fried chicken and caramel cake. I knew women like the Junior League members bad and good. It was easy to empathize with Skeeter, Celia, and even Elizabeth. Although I was married to a young professional raised in that town, it wasn't easy being a closet liberal, coming to live in a small Mississippi town as an outsider, and trying to live on a start-up income while having to socialize with women from "old money". I can't help but wonder if this book had been written 40 years earlier how life in Mississippi would be today.