While reading One Drop by Bliss Broyard for our book club, I stopped to read Kathryn Stockett's The Help [Putnam/Amy Einhorn, Feb.]. Broyard talks about the theory of invisibility of the African-American and the resulting “second sight.” Stockett brings to vivid life the lives of white women and their help in Jackson, Miss., during the early 1960s. Stockett has written a captivating debut novel, damp with the scent of magnolias in the air, that delves into the shared history of children and the maids who raise them. I could see these people, hear their voices and smell their anxiety. My family will be glad that I've finished The Help because while I was reading it, I couldn't put the book down. I didn't actually bring it to the dinner table, but my mind was focused on getting back to it as soon as I could. I predict wonderful success for this riveting, rich and wickedly funny first novel in Amy Einhorn's imprint.