Books After 17 Years, the Author of The Help Is Back With a New Novel Kathryn Stockett’s The Calamity Club knows just what its readers want. By Enter your email to receive alerts for this author. Sign in or create an account to better manage your email preferences. Unsubscribe from email alerts Are you sure you want to unsubscribe from email alerts for Rebecca Onion ? May 07, 2026 1:52 PM Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Ken Kochey. Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 debut The Help , a novel about the lives of 1960s-era Black domestic workers in Mississippi and the white writer who collects their stories, has sold 15 million copies. The 2011 movie, starring Viola Davis, Emma Stone, and Octavia Spencer, won Spencer an Oscar and helped the book’s fame grow.…