For awhile, things look pretty bleak and she gives her baby to Sven and tells him to leave. She is arrested and has to give birth in jail. When the body of Clem McCullough is found, dead for months up in the mountains with a library book near his head, Alice’s father-in-law makes sure suspicion falls on Margery. She loves Sven but does not want a child or marriage. Margery discovers she’s pregnant with Sven’s child. Alice is badly beaten by her father-in-law when she refuses to stop working at the library and she flees to live with Margery.Īt the same time, Alice discovers that she has feelings for Fred Guisler, the man whose land and horses they use for the library. Margery is also attacked by a very drunk Clem McCullough on one of her routes but manages to get away. Margery actively but secretly fights against the mine, owned by Alice’s father-in-law, making an enemy of him. There’s a lot of drama in the small town of Baileyville. Sophia does not ride out, but organizes the books and ledgers in the safety of the building. The other women that work at the library include: Beth, another tough, unconventional woman Izzy, struggling with a bad limp from polio but forced to join the crew by her mother and Sophia, a “colored” woman that Margery knew as a child. Margery was relieved when her father finally died and vowed never to get married. Margery’s father was an abusive alcoholic involved in a longstanding feud with the McCullough family. She meets Margery O’Hare, a strong, unconventional woman who teaches her the routes through the mountains. At a town meeting, she hears about the Pack Horse Library Project, funded by the Works Progress Administration. Bennett allows his father to control most aspects of their life, and their adjacent bedrooms with paper thin walls does nothing for their sex life.Īs time goes on, and Bennett’s feelings for her seem to wane, Alice grows more and more miserable. The home is nice, but is shared with her overbearing father-in-law. Instead of an exciting American city, they go back to a very small town in the mountains of Kentucky. But when she gets there, it’s not everything she expected. She falls in love with Bennett Van Cleve when he comes to visit, and she’s happy to escape her family home, marry him, and follow him to Kentucky.

Alice was always something of a nuisance to her family in England. The book takes place in depression-era Kentucky. I was more than willing to give a second book by Moyes a try. I’ve only read one other book by JoJo Moyes, Me Before You, and I enjoyed it more than I had expected. The blurb said something about the friendship of women and library books, and that was enough for me.

The Giver of Stars (2019) was just sitting on the shelf looking all shiny and new, and I couldn’t resist. Once again, I was sucked in by my library’s “Lucky Day” books.

Review the giver of stars