Mona Simpson is the author of Anywhere But Here, The Lost Father, A Regular Guy, and Off Keck Road, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and won the Heartland Prize of the Chicago Tribune. She lives in Santa Monica, California.

Step into the glittering lives of Hollywood America, as scrubbed, wiped and polished by immigrant women. It's so refreshing that a book can be this poignant, satirical and heartbreaking at once. You might find yourself laughing at your own life as you read what the help says and thinks behind the backs of American housewives. You'll wonder at the intricate system of the modern household-where one mother pays another to give her children love. It illuminates the differences between American and immigrant mothers-until you realize how alike we are! The vivid accents and the vibrant voices of the children continue to ring in my ear. I loaned it to my mom and she took it to Mississippi with her and won't send it back. I'll be buying a copy of my own.

Mona Simpson is the author of Anywhere But Here, The Lost Father, A Regular Guy, and Off Keck Road, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and won the Heartland Prize of the Chicago Tribune. She lives in Santa Monica, California.

Step into the glittering lives of Hollywood America, as scrubbed, wiped and polished by immigrant women. It's so refreshing that a book can be this poignant, satirical and heartbreaking at once. You might find yourself laughing at your own life as you read what the help says and thinks behind the backs of American housewives. You'll wonder at the intricate system of the modern household-where one mother pays another to give her children love. It illuminates the differences between American and immigrant mothers-until you realize how alike we are! The vivid accents and the vibrant voices of the children continue to ring in my ear. I loaned it to my mom and she took it to Mississippi with her and won't send it back. I'll be buying a copy of my own.