"Giver of Stars" by JoJo Moyes was a real treat to read, with a powerful message of friendship and what it takes to follow your passion in order to help others less fortunate. Beatifically written, this story is set in the Great Depression in Kentucky where a group of women set up a pack horse library to share books to those who would never otherwise be able to access them. It's a perilous journey but these women are dedicated to their mission.

What makes this story even more special to me, is that it's based on a real life pack of feisty women who actually did this during the 1930-40s! Although this story is fictional, I am sure what they went through during that time period - with the rough terrain, the racism, and lack of gun laws, (to name but a few things) we'd be hard pressed to find many people offering to do the same thing these days, under those same conditions.

This was so well written, from the abuse English woman Alice received by her father-in-law and her weak minded husband, to the unconventional library leader Margery O'Hare's murder trial, this book has got it all! I'll be honest, what started out for me as just a historical fiction book, became one of my favourite books this year!

Would make a perfect gift for anyone looking for an entertaining story where strong women prevail, against all odds, (and there were several!) during a time where men practically owned them. Superb!

Thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for my ARC copy, this is my unbiased honest review of this book - I loved it!

The Giver of Stars is a wonderful story of female friendships and empowerment. Based on true events that saw local women deliver books through a travelling library on horseback to rural areas and mountains in Kentucky, USA. The relationships are wonderfully written and feel entirely genuine as all the librarians face difficulties in their personal lives and in their chosen career. Unfortunately I bought this book on my kindle, which mean I don’t own the beautifully illustrated hardback.

Beautifully written in classic JoJo Moyes style.
This needs to be made into a film, and I will be one of the first to go see it !
I will be highly recommending this unique and mesmerising story !

I read this book but it wasn’t for me . It was very well written and because it was written by Jojo moyes I read it till the end . The women in this book are wonderful and amazing. I’ve loved all of jojo’s books but sometimes one doesn’t hit the mark with you.
Thank NetGalley

Another truly fantastic book from Jojo Moyes. I loved the five women and how well fleshed out their characters were. Amazing read!

Another great read from this author. Enchanting and captivating story with great strong characters throughout. Definitely recommended.

Lovely story set in a really interesting period with some great characters. Slightly different from some of the authors other book in that the setting was so engaging.

Thanks for allowing me to review this book.

Great story set around a ground breaking real life event. Great characters and such an atmospheric setting. The reader can clearly visualise the countryside and feel the oppression in the air.

This had a very different setting to any of the other Jojo Moyes books that I’ve read and loved, but it had my hooked from the start (I’m a librarian so maybe that’a why?!). Alice arrives in Baileyville, Kentucky from England to marry the very handsome son of local businessman Bennett Van Cleve. But this is the 1930s and Alice is expected to be a wife who keeps house and looks pretty. Her overbearing father-in-law wants to keep his son and daughter-in-law in check and their relationship doesn’t get off to a great start, with Alice not sure what she can do to keep her husband’s attention. Stuck for something to do she befriends Margery O’Hare, an independent, spirited woman who doesn’t care what the rest of the town think of her or the tales of her no-good father. Together with a group of similarly independent women they join the newly created Baileyville horseback librarians whose mission is to take books out to isolated rural communities. But Alice’s new found independence don’t go down well with her father-in-law, and when his business interests are threatened, he decides Margery is the reason for all his troubles and plots his revenge. Full of believable, feisty characters, a real bully of a villain, floods, perilous journeys and a court room drama, this is a guaranteed good read from Moyes! You will be in tears at the end!

In the 1930s Alice finds her life as a single lady stifling and so when she meets a wealthy American from Kentucky she jumps at the adventure to marry him and go and live in America. Once over there however life is no better, her husband is totally dominated by his father and the ladies of the town resent her, but then she meets Margery, a woman from a dubious backed shunned by most of society, who is trying to set up a travelling library. Alice jumps at the chance to help her and the little band of women start delivering books by horseback to the wild mountain regions of Kentucky, against much opposition from the townsfolk who think the only book that should be read is the bible and that they are corrupting women by giving them books to read. Will the library be able to survive against the opposition and with all the dramas will Alice eventually be able to find her place in the town?

A great book based on a true story, I have read all of the books by this author and think this is one of the best, there are some great strong characters doing an amazing pioneering job in the harshest of circumstances so the storyline is very interesting and definitely keeps you reading. A book that you will want to keep on your shelf and read again.

Times are hard in Kentucky at the end of the Great Depression. Five women set out to bring some light back into people’s lives, through books. This isn’t your average mobile library; the librarians have to travel hundreds of miles every week, on horseback. Amongst them is Margery – whose family and unconventional lifestyle mean she’s all but ostracized by ‘polite society’. And Alice – a lonely incomer far from home. A great story, great characters and great writing make The Giver of Stars the perfect gift.

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

In 1937 Kentucky a group of women find more than they bargained for when volunteering for the local library. They work hard to bring books on horseback to the most remote families, and often in treacherous conditions. There are many skeptics amongst the men in the community who believe the library is diluting the word of the bible, or bringing unwanted ideas to their women.

Alice, an English woman who moved to Kentucky to live with her new husband is one of the volunteers. She pushes her boundaries with this new manual work in and finds out more than she could have expected about herself, and her new husband. Friendships are made, along with enemies, and Alice finds herself at the centre of dramatic events.

We meet those who embrace the new library easily, those who rely on it as a lifeline to the outside world, and those who are reluctant readers. Some reject the library outright and will not allow new books into their homes.

Jojo Moyes brings the landscape to life with her descriptions, it is easy to see how this book will be made into a film. The women are strong and determined, with their friendships, marriages, and relationships bringing added emotion to the book. It is easy to enjoy this historical fiction novel with a huge dose of feminism based on a true story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 ok stars

Sorry to disagree with the majority but this book just wasn’t for me.

It was slow to get going and I found the passages of books unnecessary.

I loved the librarians (except for Alice) and the stories of the families they visit.

However I found I was plodding through once a certain character is arrested and the story got too far fetched. It wasn’t even saved at the end for me as it had a cheesy summary of ‘where are they now’

Disappointing

4.5-5*
I have often seen book reviews and comments on previous JoJo Moyes books but for one reason or another not read any. When I saw The Giver of Stars on NetGalley and read the summary I was fascinated. As someone who loves reading, books and libraries it seemed just right. The real-life history behind the storyline along with so many important female characters was just too intriguing to ignore. Off went my request and I was absolutely delighted when it was granted.

The book opens in England with Alice who feels she is not meeting expectations and is therefore something of a disappointment to her parents. She meets Bennett and after a brief time they marry and she is off to new and, she feels assured, happier times.

Moving swiftly from England to the USA we follow Alice to Baileyville, Kentucky. Here life is not quite as she expected. She feels like one stifling life has been exchanged for another. Then one day whilst at a church meeting she hears Mrs Brady speak about a library service stemming from the WPA initiative (see information below) whereby books are to be delivered free of charge by horse-back to remote areas, a travelling library – the Pack Horse Library. She asks for helpers and puts forward her daughter Izzy. No one else offers to sign up but then Alice, much to Bennett’s chagrin, says she’ll do it.

Margery O’Hare is already part of the Pack Horse Library. She’s a free spirit, independent, unconventional and a bit of a lone wolf. Margery has a passion for books, for reading and is fiercely determined to make the travelling library a success.

There is already another travelling library rider, Beth Pinker, and Fred Guisler is housing the library in his old barn.

It’s the 1930s, it’s still a truly male dominated world, women need to know their place and life can be tough. The Great Depression was taking a huge economic toll on America. It was still unusual for the times to have women working like this but times and women were changing.

The library is begun. It’s a terrific idea even though some don’t see it that way. Soon enough Margery, Alice, Izzy and Beth build a thriving library. The long, arduous hours spent delivering has left the women tired. Margery realises they need to bring some better organisation, a better lending system, a way of getting the books repaired quickly and getting use out of those books and magazines no longer able to be mended. Enter Sophia.

The characters in this book are wonderful Alice, Margery, Izzy, Sophia and Beth each have their own experiences and it is great getting to know them alongside Mrs Brady, Kathleen, Fred, William and the Horners. Of course, there are some nasty characters too. I had my favourites and no doubt other readers will have theirs but that just shows how well written they are that this book, it’s characters and theirs lives are so believable, so realistic.

The library brings not only books and people together, serves the community but builds a great friendship between these five women. We hear their stories along with that of the library and some of those they serve. It goes beyond lending out books when massive rainstorms come and these women go courageously to the aid of their community.

Alice loves her work, feels so at home with her co-workers, her friends especially Margery. It is to Margery she turns too in her troubles but Margery has troubles too. She’s been making powerful enemies and when, as the snows melt, a body is found it brings dreadful consequences and untold misery.

This is a wonderful book, a story that so deserved telling and JoJo Moyes had done that beautifully. She has brought us into the life and lives not only of these amazing women but of the people of Kentucky. You feel like you are there in the mountains, in the town and in the hearts and homes of this beautiful place. This is a fabulous book with a wonderful cast of characters whose spirit, fortitude and resolve should and, no doubt, will live long in both the memory and heart of those who read it.

Thanks
My thanks to Michael Joseph via NetGalley for an eCopy of The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.

I was not convinced that I would enjoy this story as the synopsis was so different from.the usual writing of Jojo Moyes but I absolutely loved it and was sad when I had finished it. For me there were two main characters - Alice and Margery, whose backgrounds and characters were poles apart but who both showed huge strength when life threw them a curved ball.
Alice had arrived from.England as a naive bride, married to a weak man, Bennett who lived in the shadow of his obnoxious and very dominant father. Alice was saved by Margery from her disastrous marriage and given something to strive for by working as part of a team of young women providing a library service. When Bennett's father objects and beats Alice she eventually leaves her marital home and his malice towards Margery increases as she takes Alice into her home, and he endeavours to ruin both their lives.
There are many moments of sheer joy, romance but also despair throughout the story but thankfully with a happy and satisfactory conclusion. A definite must read

JoJo Moyes needed no introduction for me as I have long been a fan but The Giver of Stars affected me as much as Me Before You. And the fact that the storyline was based on real lives gave it an extra layer of emotional tug. The surroundings of Baileyville, Kentucky in the depression era of the late 1930s was beautifully evoked as was the class divide between the haves and the have nots. How I hated Geoffrey Van Cleve, the mineowner, who espoused the view that money could buy you out of anything, despaired of his weak son Bennett but it was that fearless sisterhood of Margery, Beth, Alice, Izzy and Sophia who stole my heart. For all its seemingly gentle story of librarians trekking out on horseback delivering books and magazines it soon became a rollercoaster of manipulation, bullying, injustice and revenge. This is a wonderful read that champions the power of the written word and the indomitable spirit of the packhorse librarians. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for this gift of a book.

The book is set in 1930s Kentucky and follows a group of women who are packhorse librarians - more about that later. Young English woman Alice Wright has married handsome American Bennet van Cleve and envisages a glamorous life in America, one of high fashion and big cars. But life is very different in small town Baileyville where she finds living with her overbearing and opinionated father-in-law very hard and married life with Bennett is most definitely not what she hoped for.

When the opportunity comes to work with the library, she jumps at the chance despite her father-in-law's disapproval. Alice wanted very much to have a conventional marriage but when this was clearly not going to be the case, she found working for the library to be as much benefit to her as it was to the community.

I loved the idea of this very early mobile library which is inspired by the real life women of the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky, who were employed by the US government to take reading material to families in remote areas who may not otherwise have been able to access books. What strong and courageous women they must have been, facing not just the opposition of their communities but also coping with a harsh terrain and conditions. This strength was apparent first of all in Margery, who was a real one-off in that she had no intention of fitting in with society's expectations. The other librarians Issy and Beth had their own reasons for wanting to work as librarians and with Sophia, a black woman working quietly behind the scenes, the librarian team was complete. The strength and support these women gave to each other was immense, especially when one of them faced real danger. The strong bonds of female friendship meant the women would stand by their friends no matter what - they were feisty!

In The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes transports you to a different place and time. It was a time when life for women was very different and being different in any way was viewed with suspicion as ungodly. Particularly in small town Kentucky, women were expected to fit in with society's expectations and our librarians just did not do that.

I absolutely lost myself in this story, I loved every page and didn't want it to end. I was very reluctant to say goodbye to these characters who will certainly stay in my mind. The Giver of Stars is a wonderful historical novel and one I highly recommend. It's definitely going to be on my top reads list this year!

This book is about a group of women who set up a travelling library in post-great depression era America. It mainly focuses around Alice, an English woman who went to America to marry her love, but their marriage isn’t all what either of them expected, so to get out of the house, Alice helps with the travelling library, despite her husband and father-in-law telling her to keep away from the leader of it all, Margery O’Hare. The book focuses around love, friendship and an adoration for reading. I loved Jojo Moyes ‘Me Before You’ series, so getting to read this through Netgalley was so exciting for me, and I really did enjoy the book. The writing is third-person and so nicely done, I feel as if a lot of research went into 1930’s America, and I enjoyed that our main character was so different to what was expected of her. This book does include sexual references and swearing though, just as a warning. However, it doesn’t change the story and if you are a fan of Jojo Moyes, this is not one you want to miss. It was so different to what I was expecting and I found myself really connecting to the characters, particularly that of Alice and Margery. Everyone has their own way of speaking and acting and are such individuals, it wasn’t hard to tell who was who when speaking and doing certain things. I definitely recommend this!

Strong characters and interesting premises are completed by Moyes great writing. I've liked her dives into the past in her previous books but it was a surprise to see a full historical novel from this author who had such great success with contemporary women fiction.
I enjoyed the strong women and their message as well as the action scenes. A recommended read for anyone looking for something a bit different.

A very different style for this author! I found the book quite slow at first but once the main characters began to blossom the story flowed my much better. Being based on a true story gave the book far more depth and was very interesting to read of their plight as outreach librarians.