The Giver of Stars

I started 2019 with a Jojo Moyes book, and I'm (nearly) finishing the year with another one. The Giver of Stars is an interesting mix of historical fiction and chick lit. It's a book about women's friendships. And then there's some romance, not my cup of tea, but the rest of the story made up for it. This is a book that I believe would appeal to a diverse group of readers.

In The Giver of Stars, English author, Jojo Moyes, weaves a tale around the WPA Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, a actual initiative by Eleanor Roosevelt that had women on horseback delivering library books to underserved in the mountains in an attempt to get people reading. (Now I'm wondering if this is something was included in The Library Book that I finished as soon as I finished that book.) I loved reading about the development of this library.

Alice Van Cleve, newly arrived from England, unhappily newly wed, is one of the first to volunteer to be a librarian. She joins Margery, an independent tough talking woman with a reputation based on her father's reputation before her. Eventually there are 4 other librarians, each with an interesting backstory. One of the librarians, a black woman, had gotten her experience at the Louisville Colored Branch (library).

As in every other Moyes book that I've read, character development is excellent. We see most of the librarians change, grow, and develop as the story moves along. Moyes doesn't ignore the men in their lives. We get to see growth and development there, too.

This novel is very popular in one of the reading groups I participate in on Facebook. I'd highly recommend it... if you think you can put up with the romance aspects of the novel.