Author: Jojo Moyes Publication date: November 2019
Education, gender equality and friendships are the 3 themes that I take away after reading “The Giver of the Stars” by Jojo Moyes. A historical fiction story of a group of women fighting for the right of education through the power of spreading books.
Alice Van Cleave is a young naïve English women that comes to the United States after marring the young and much sought after bachelor Bennet Van Cleave. Soon after her arrival to the strange and unknown town in Kentucky, she learns of this reading program called “The Packhorse Librarians” where a group of women deliver books around town to people that don’t have the means to get books themselves. She quickly strikes up this wonderful friendship with Margery O’Hare one of the lead women in the program. It the encouraging love and support from O’Hare that give Alice the courage she needed to finally stand up to her over bearing father-in-law and strange husband at home and finally that situation behind. However, being quite angry about the situation Van Cleave doesn’t not make her decisions the easiest by stocking her and making her life a living hell around town.
This book is a powerful story of the importance of reading and education and of friendships and girl power. I fell in love with these characters from the very first page to the very last. I enjoy going along with them of the journey of fighting for equality in education and in the home life as well. I appreciated the fact the Jojo Moyes put in males characters that were on the side of the women in this case and it wasn’t all men against all women. Jojo Moyes really represented that fact that men can have their own opinions about a situation and they don’t always have to agree with each other. Overall this book is a must read for all women who are looking for some encouraging words in times of doubt!
Hadley Books 