​The Giver of Stars is set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

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.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how the women, a group of unlikely companions, all deemed misfits in different ways, banded together a formed a sisterhood. It’s a beautiful story of what happens when we support the women around us, and it really shows the power of kindness and friendship. 

The beginning of the book was a tiny bit slow for me – there was a lot of backstory and there are a lot of characters. But I have enjoyed a few of Moyes’s books already and I like her style of writing. Once the story picked up, I had a hard time putting it down, and found myself reading well into the night. Towards the end, I found myself weepy at a few points, and the ending is an ending that brings hope. 

I also had no idea about the Packhorse Librarians and Eleanor Roosevelt’s initiative to bring books to some of the more remote areas of the country. So historical fiction wins for me yet again! 

xoxo,