Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Alice doesn't fit in at home in England, for reasons that aren't entirely made clear, but also aren't terribly important. So when Bennett Van Cleve and his father come through her town on their European tour, she's more than ready to be swept off her feet and taken away from her boring life and hyper-critical parents. Unfortunately, she didn't look at a map to understand that Kentucky mining country is a far cry from cosmopolitan New York. Nor did she have enough to have any sense of her husband's character, and things quickly go downhill for her in America.
Fortunately, the WPA's packhorse library's need for librarians comes along to save her. The only things that anchors this book in the 20th century, the packhorse library really existed. "Librarians" took books into the hills and remote areas of Kentucky (and other places), and, at least in this book, brought the light of literature out to the boonies. Alice must contend with mistrust (not only is she not from the nearest small-town, she has an accent all the way from England), hazardous weather, and a bonehead husband. Fortunately, the promise of new friendships and happier times is on the horizon, if Alice can tough it out.
This may sound like a lightweight book, but it's actually not. Swirling around Alice are issues of poverty, illiteracy, prejudice, class injustice, and the unionization of coal miners. On a personal level, she must also deal with the nature of marriage and her obligations to her family. Moyes does an elegant job of illuminating all these issues while also writing realistic and relatable characters and situations. As a librarian, I was, of course, particularly taken with her discussions of the packhorse librarians and their goals of spreading literacy throughout the countryside. Her descriptions of how books changed the lives of the families in the hills serves as a timeless reminder of the importance of books and libraries to everyone.
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.
