Netflix’s limited series Maid is on the path to becoming one of the most-watched television series on the streaming giant, and viewers love it mostly because Maid is based on a true story. Stephanie Land’s Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive is the source material for the show, and a much-needed eye-opener about domestic abuse, poverty, and the lack of social safety systems for women in difficult situations.
The memoir has touched many hearts and enlightened audiences about the struggles that Land and many others like her have to endure, and there are several other books written by people who were failed by society on several counts, but then also been uplifted. These books have something to teach people and also give warm hope about the resilience of the human spirit.
Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America – Barbara Ehrenreich
To investigate how low-wage workers get by, Barbara Ehrenreich went undercover and decided to live as they do, taking whichever jobs she could get, which included waitressing, being a hotel maid, a cleaning lady, a nursing home aide, and a Wal-Mart clerk.
Living in cheap motels, trailer parks, and her car, Ehrenreich reached the realization that these jobs are not unskilled — in fact, they require quick thinking, management, and a lot of heavy lifting at poverty line pay. The mental and physical effects of this kind of living are huge and detrimental.
And Now I Spill the Family Secrets – Margaret Kimball
The braveness of Maid’s characters can be found in this illustrated memoir about a seemingly normal suburban family that gets rocked by tragedy — Kimball’s mother attempts suicide due to her bipolar disorder, and thus begins the unraveling of a family and Kimball’s attempts to piece it together.
She discovers the mental health struggles, which includes the institutionalization of her grandmother, that run through her whole family, and using diary entries, hospital records, and videos, puts together a nuanced and self-aware memoir of her family and its secrets.
The Freedom Writers Diary – Erin Gruwell
As a bright-eyed and optimistic 23-year-old educator, Erin Gruwell’s eyes were opened while teaching at-risk students at Wilson High School in California. She intercepted a racist drawing between the students and confronted how similar they were to Nazi propaganda caricatures.
When they showed a lack of knowledge of what the Holocaust was, Gruwell set out to teach them through tomes like The Diary Of Anne Frank, and asked her class to maintain journals of their own personal experiences at home and with racial tolerance, which make up a large part of the memoir.
Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America – C. Nicole Mason
Like Alex, one of the best characters of Maid, C. Nicole Mason was brought up by a single 16-year-old mother and had faced hunger, homelessness, and poverty several times, which she couldn’t talk about at school, a place where she excelled as a student.
Tough and resilient, Mason was lost in the world of education and the prospect of white-collar jobs where she was a minority and the system worked against her. After working nights at a food court and figuring out how to do a college application, she made her way to Howard University with a small sum in her pocket.
Below Stairs – Margaret Powell
Set in the 1920s, Below Stairs inspired shows like Downton Abbey. Powell entered an English house at the lowest rung of the ladder, a kitchen maid, whose thankless job started at 5:30 am and went on until after the sun set.
The memoir gives audiences a look into the manner in which domestic help has been treated through the ages, with jobs like ironing bootlaces. Other maids that she worked with were thrown out for faults of the homeowners, strange masters with weird habits, and the world of the “downstairs” — which could be exciting too.
Heartland – Sarah Smarsh
Shows like Maid highlight just how mentally corrosive poverty can be, as does this impactful memoir by Sarah Smarsh. Living in Kansas, Smarsh and her family were caught in a web of poverty because of America’s economic policies, which was disheartening in one of the richest countries on Earth.
Whole communities suffer because of poverty, with Smarsh’s own grandmother having to move frequently to escape violent neighborhoods, abusive partners, and layoffs from shaky jobs. She could escape the cyclical destitution and go to college because of the work done by generations before her.
A Stone Of Hope – Jim St. Germain
St. Germain was born into penury in Haiti, and his move to Brooklyn only habituated him to a life of drugs, crime, and violence on the streets. Thankfully, he landed in “Boys Town”, a rehabilitation center instead of prison, which changed his life.
With the right guidance, the sixteen-year-old graduated college and started helping other at-risk youth like himself, eventually writing his candid memoir. A story of second chances and the positive effect societal and institutional support can have on young people, this book is a must-read.
Educated – Tara Westover
Tara Westover started life far away from mainstream society. Her parents were survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, and her mother, a midwife, and father, a junkyard owner, didn’t bother giving her any semblance of an education.
To get away from her abusive brother, Westover educated herself enough to get into university, and her journey after that spanned continents where she wouldn’t have been able to go had it not been for education.
