Apr 16

Apr 16 A really good read - The Giver of Stars

The Giver of Stars may just be the perfect lockdown book. A rompingly absorbing, emotionally gripping story, with compelling central characters, and a fascinatingly evocative insight into a time and a place - the mountains of Kentucky in Depression-era 1930s America - far removed from our everyday reality.

Jo Jo Moyes the master storyteller

If you’re already a Jo Jo Moyes fan you’ll know what a masterful storyteller she is, and how thoroughly she immerses herself and along with her, her readers, in the worlds and characters she creates. If you haven’t yet discovered her powerful narrative skills, this is as good a book as you’ll find to dive into them.

The first of the main characters

Spirited but stifled Alice Wright impulsively agrees to marry wealthy Bennett Van Cleve to escape from her claustrophobic English family and move to his home in remote Baileyville, Kentucky. But she quickly discovers that she has exchanged one repressive household for another as Bennett turns from ardent suitor to disinterested husband, seemingly entirely under the domineering thumb of his overbearing father, whose house they live in.

And the next

Alice’s encounter with fiery Margery O’Hare and the call-out the intriguingly self-sufficient woman makes for others to respond to Eleanor Roosevelt’s request for women to join a new initiative of horseback librarians (a real enterprise created to bring books and learning to communities in one of the most the desperately poor regions of the country) , changes Alice’s life.

The horseback librarian team

Margery and Alice, along with two other determined volunteers, feisty Beth and cosseted Izzy, face daunting physical challenges on the wild mountain trails, confronting their own limitations and fears, as well as the animosity of some homesteaders and residents of the town.

What lies in store

As the bond between the women and the small team of locals who support them grows and as the events of the time play out in the community, the dogged librarians face a series of challenges greater than they could ever have imagined.

Will the power of their friendship, their collective strength and their fierce commitment to each other and the purpose they are all so devoted to, see them through?

As if I’m going to tell you that!

What I will tell you is that The Giver of Stars is a sweeping, heartbreaking, engrossing, romantic, entertaining book that makes the perfect absorbing, uplifting escape. You won’t want it to end.

My lockdown library is growing by the week, but any recommendations you have for adding to it would be welcome!