I found this such an interesting book. To begin with I wasn't so sure, the cover didn't make me think that this would be as exciting, or have as many twists, as it did. It took me a few chapters to realise that there's a lot more to this book than its cover!
The story is set in the 1950s and centres around Joyce Haney, who goes missing one quiet day in Sunnylakes, an affluent suburb. 'The help', Ruby, is the one to discover the crime scene, when she come to clean and finds one of her young daughters wandering around the garden and the other crying in her cot. Obviously, as a black cleaner, Ruby is immediately under suspicion and if it wasn't for a forward-thinking detective, Mick, she would almost certainly have been blamed for the crime. However Mick knows there is more to this than meets the eye and, together, he and Ruby set out to discover what happened to Joyce and who is responsible.
This is a brilliant portrayal of the disconnect and racial tensions in 1950s America, and I couldn't help thinking of Ruby as Octavia Spencer's character in 'The Help' too.
The story is set in the 1950s and centres around Joyce Haney, who goes missing one quiet day in Sunnylakes, an affluent suburb. 'The help', Ruby, is the one to discover the crime scene, when she come to clean and finds one of her young daughters wandering around the garden and the other crying in her cot. Obviously, as a black cleaner, Ruby is immediately under suspicion and if it wasn't for a forward-thinking detective, Mick, she would almost certainly have been blamed for the crime. However Mick knows there is more to this than meets the eye and, together, he and Ruby set out to discover what happened to Joyce and who is responsible.
This is a brilliant portrayal of the disconnect and racial tensions in 1950s America, and I couldn't help thinking of Ruby as Octavia Spencer's character in 'The Help' too.