#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | A REESE WITHERSPOON X HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK“A great narrative about personal strength and really captures how books bring communities together.” —Reese WitherspoonFrom the author of The Last Letter from Your Lover, now a major motion picture on Netflix, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of … their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond in Depression-era America
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve, hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity, and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.more
Jojo Moyes book, *The Giver of Stars,* is historical fiction set in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression. We follow a group of women working in a New Deal’s WPA program, the Packhorse Librarians. The librarians’ job was to take packs full of books by horseback to residents living on isolated mountain homesteads, thus enriching residents’ lives beyond measure.
Above all, Jojo Moyes is a very good storyteller. She introduces us to a small group of women who become the packhorse librarians, focusing primarily on Alice and Margery. Alice is an Englishwoman who is married to a local man, and Margery is a social misfit from a feuding mountain family. Moyes primarily uses dialog to tell this story, and the dialog makes the story even more vibrant and realistic.
The story brings in relevant themes: the inferior role of women who are all too often subjects of appalling domestic abuse, the death and debilitating injuries suffered by male miners; the grinding poverty, and the severe environmental damage caused by the coal industry. From the perspective of suspense, you can’t get any better than passages in which the librarians attempt to save residents from a severe flood. And there’s even a dramatic courtroom scene.
On top of all there, there are two love stories. There’s Marge who loves her Sven but fears giving up her autonomy if she marries. And there’s Alice in her misbegotten marriage who finds true love with another man. He’s the man who gives her a copy of a poem by American poet Amy Lowell to express his feelings for her. The title of the poem? “The Giver of Stars.” Don’t miss this one.
Note: There has been considerable discussion about this book and another book about the Packhorse Library Project, “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.” The two books are quite different. My view is that “The Book Woman…” is a more accurate portrayal of the grim life of poverty and the discrimination against “coloreds” during that time period. “Giver of Stars” doesn’t mention the Blue People. Although “Giver of Stars” is a finely-told yarn about two women, both Packhorse Librarians, they are engaged primarily in an effort to maintain personal autonomy and to find love. Their story is a good one but lacks the depth of “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.”
This was an amazing book. I have read many of Jojo Moyes books and this one was an historical fiction based on the women who delivered library books to the rural residents in Kentucky. The characters were complex and well developed and they formed a sweet bond of friendship in the midst of a very difficult time. It got to a point where I couldn’t put it down and was sorry when it ended but I still smile wen I think of how each of their lives turned out.
I read this for one of my bookclubs, and having read Me Before You, I was braced for an emotionally wrenching tale. But while the book cranks up the emotions through a series of injustices and disasters, the historical elements (new to me) provided a ballast that lent heft and nuance to this tale. To be honest, this book reminded me a bit of the Virgin River series (which I’ve not read but seen on TV), in which a nurse/midwife moves from LA to a tiny town in northern California, where there is an idyllic setting, eccentric characters, and a series of problems, one per episode, as well as a growing romance with the sexy, evolved bar owner that you can see coming a mile away. In Moyes’s tale, Alice is the fish out of water who finds romance (with a suitably evolved man) and makes good. Admittedly, as some other reviews have noted, the characters divide fairly neatly into good versus evil, with Margery, Fred and Alice being the “good” ones who risk their lives to bring books to people and then save others during a flood, which is caused in part by Van Cleve, the financially rapacious coal mine owner. He is arrogant and a chauvinist … and (lest you missed how evil he is) who beats up Alice for giving some old dolls to two recently motherless girls. (This is an example of the extremes Moyes employs.) Still, I flew through this book in a day and learned about an aspect of Kentucky history involving some extraordinary women. Enjoyable.
Depression era in Eastern Kentucky, one of the US’s poorest areas, might bring to mind moonshine and muskets. Those do feature in “The Giver of Stars” by Jojo Moyes, as do a group of spirited women who sign up for the New Deal’s mobile library. The women battled not only the elements and topography to enrich the lives of the downtrodden population. Bigotry and misogyny, clanish thinking, misplaced fears, and convention also dogged these horse-ladies’ steps.
The beginning of this book allows readers to get to know the riders and those who would thwart their efforts. In the second half of the book, the action picks up and culminates in a startling court case.
With adventure, romance, strong friendships, and a bit of mystery, this book entertains.
I enjoyed the different portrayals of love and loyalty
Love to read – you’ll love reading about traveling librarians
This was my first JoJo Moyes book and I loved it! I will definitely read more of her work.
Loved it and all of JoJo’s books.
I fell in love with all the characters. It was hard to put the book down and I didn’t want it to end. I hope there will be a sequel. Recommend this book !!
This thought-provoking book was filled with strong female characters that were so ahead of there time. The story was packed with messages about right from wrong, morality, compassion, and how harmful those ideas can be when they are twisted in the minds of some. The takeaway for me was the love and loyalty between a group of women thrown together by a little library – women who might not normally be friends but became each other’s lifeline.
It was good, but I have enjoyed her other novels much more.
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes is a lovely piece of women’s fiction based on the Depression era librarians on horseback in Kentucky. A WPA project spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt and supported by her husband, women on horseback took reading material out into the hills: children’s books, literature, magazines of all types, and newspapers. For many of these hill people, the librarians were their only contact with civilization and provided much more than the service for which they were paid. This book is about five of those librarians but is also about the culture in which they lived, where ignorance and prejudice reigned supreme. Alice met and married Bennett Van Cleve in England while he and his father were on a grand tour. She thought she was in love, but apparently was more in love with escaping her family. The small mining town in Kentucky was not what she expected and her new life was worse than her old. Eventually she volunteered for the librarian project, much to the dismay of her husband and her father-in-law and for the first time was independent. She met life-long friends and found her own voice, eventually building a life for herself.
The story was good, but the characters were so endearing, so real, that they were the books. There were a variety of them: the educated black woman; the independent, life-life-as-I-choose woman; the handicapped, over-protected woman; The cigarette-smoking, hard-living woman; and Alice, the naive woman who eventually stood up for herself and others. The overwhelming ignorance of people allowed them to be manipulated by the greed of their “overlords.” Even literate ones learned they had to follow at least some of the rules of those around them. This was an exceptional book, one worth a read, and probably a reread. Moyes has brought a piece of history alive in such a compelling manner that a reader could not possibly walk away from it unchanged. I recommend it.
I was invited to read a free ARC of The Giver of Stars by Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thegiverofstars
One of the best books I’ve read in a while. It transports you to the 1930s America, in a small town in Kentucky. Fascinating characters coincide with a strong female lead .
I loved the way it brought out the nature of Kentucky.This is a book that brought out truths and emotions that are a part of life seldom spoken. Very real a must read.
I’ve read many of Jojo Moyes books, so when I saw this one I thought it would be a good book to read. Well I was right, it was wonderful. I did not want to put it down. The story is about the friendships of the women involved in the Packhouse Library. I laughed, I cried, and I got a happy ending. Wonderful book!
A beautiful tale of growing up in the marshland of South Carolina.
I listened to this audio book on the Libby app. I found the narration to be very well done, with accents and different vocal tones for different characters in the story.
I hadn’t heard of the pack horse library before and found the story to be enlightening and interesting. In addition to learning a bit about history, I really enjoyed the story lines of Alice and Marjorie. I found the characters to be well written and endearing. On the opposite side, I really disliked the VanCleaves, I thought Bennett was cowardly and his father was a tyrant.
I really like how the women of this story stood together and stood up for each other. It’s a beautiful thing when women look out for each other like that. And the whole premise of the traveling library was one I wish I’d known about sooner. I’d really like to read and learn more about it.
I read this book not knowing of the controversy around the writing of this book. Apparently another author was writing a very similar book to this at the same time and Jojo released hers before this author. I have not read the other book but it has appeared on my hoopla app. I might give it a try to see how similar it is.
I really love the author Jojo Moyes. This is the 5th book I’ve read by her and I have to say I appreciate the change in her usual writing style with this book. Typically her books are romantic contemporary fiction with a splash of comedy. This book was a really well-written historical fiction book about the WPA Packhorse Librarians in Kentucky. Moyes writes a strong cast of women for us to follow. Each woman dealing with their own personal troubles. The women band together to help each other out through various dangerous situations. I love that dynamic. I really liked learning about the packhorse librarians and rural small-town Kentucky coming out of the depression. I would highly recommend reading!
I was enthralled from page one until the very end.