The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
"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 Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. What happens to them -- and to the men they love -- becomes a classic drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. Though they face all kinds of dangers, they're committed to their job--bringing books to people who have never had any, sharing the gift of learning that will change their lives. Based on a true story rooted in America's past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope. At times funny, at others heartbreaking, this is a richly rewarding novel of women's friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond" (worldcat)
*********
JHKT - This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time.
Reading this book makes me think about Dad's mother Celia Cathcart Holton and her time at Pine Mountain Settlement School in eastern Kentucky. Based on her work and her writings she loved the people and the countryside in the way that Alice came to love them. Mom's Aunt Nellie Floyd was a librarian at Berea College in Kentucky. She must have been familiar with people who led lives similar to those described in this book.
“And yet the thought of leaving this place – of no longer riding these mountains, accompanied only by the sound of Spirit’s hoofs and the glinting, dappled light of the forest, the thought of no longer laughing with the other librarians, stitching quietly beside Sophia or tapping her foot as Izzy’s voice soared into the rafters filled her with a grief that was visceral. She loved it here. She loved the mountains and the people and the never-ending sky. She loved feeling as if she was doing a job that meant something, testing herself each day, changing people’s lives word by word. She had earned every one of her bruises and blisters, …” (Alice's thoughts when she contemplated leaving Baileyville, Kentucky)
**********
This passage about fireflies touched me. I grew up seeing fireflies. When we moved to Washington state, I met people who have never seen them because fireflies don't live in this part of the country. I miss the magic they bring to a summer evening.
Fred and Alice sit on his porch. He showed her fireflies. First time she’d seen them. “Alice’s breath stopped in her throat. The mountainside opposite was alive with light, a wall of glinting fairy lights, three-dimensional among the trees, winking and twinkling as they shifted, illuminating the shadows of the inky dark. … Alice couldn’t quite take in what she was seeing. The clouds parted and the fireflies glinted, mingled, traversed upward from the illuminated shadows of the trees, and their million luminous white bodies melded seamlessly with the starry night sky above, so that it seemed for that moment that the whole world was carpeted with tiny golden lights. It was such a ridiculous, unlikely, insanely beautiful sight that Alice found herself laughing out loud, both hands pressed to her face.”
Fred says “You know what’s really wonderful about those fireflies? …. Sure, they live for just a few weeks. Not much at all in the grand scheme of things. But while they’re there, the beauty of them, well, it takes your breath away. … You get to see the world in a whole new way. And then you have that beautiful picture burned onto the inside of your head. To carry it wherever you go. And never forget it. … some things are a gift, even if you don’t get to keep them…. Maybe just to know that something this beautiful exists is all we can really ask for.”
**********
Hindman School is mentioned here and several other places. Celia’s Sidell, Illinois friend Rosalie Sidell Hoffman taught at Hindman School before Celia went to Pine Mountain Settlement School.
This book emphasizes the importance of literacy and the influence of strong, independently minded women.
Women can overcome negative and oppressive cultural stereotypes. How do you make a difference in a culture that doesn't give you many options? It takes courage and conviction.
