The Giver of Stars

Not as gritty or realistic feeling as [b:The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek 40914165 The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek Kim Michele Richardson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543864786l/40914165.SY75.jpg 63789129], the other recent novel about the Depression-era packhorse librarians, but more easily accessible (and Hollywood-ready - I am not surprised to hear that the movie rights have already been purchased). I don't want to wade into the plagiarism controversy so I'll just say that there should be room for at least two (if not more) novels that portray the amazingly true story of the brave, hard-working women who delivered library books to remote Kentucky mountain areas to promote literacy among a devastatingly poor population. I'm not sure why Moyes had to make one of her two heroines British, but maybe she was trying to rope in readers from both sides of the Atlantic. I will say that I was a bigger fan of the American heroine, Margery, whose no-nonsense leadership was easier to identify with than Alice, the English heroine's, naivete.Gets a little too melodramatic at the end; I would have preferred more stories about the librarians' customers than the bad guys' attempts to control Alice and stop Margery's pro-union activities. But still a very enjoyable page-turner, sure to be a book club favorite.