Jojo Moyes's book "The Giver of Stars" is on my top ten books this year. Alice Wright marries an American, hoping to be taken away from her stifling life. She arrives in Kentucky, and realizes she has replaced her father with an overbearing father-in-law and a claustrophobic life. 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. They deliver books to people in the mountains that have never had them. With the books come learning, truth and facts that will change their lives. Set in depression-era America, this story tells what happens to five extraordinary women and to the men they love. It becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity, and passion.
Barbara H.