The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes

This is a book full of women heroes, and it is the very thing to crystalize how the cvombination of the Roosevelts and and World War II changed a lot of things for a lot of people, but especially for women. The possibilities for women expanded, as did their ability to see beyond what they knew, it allowed women to dream bigger dreams. This is a story about the Pack Horse Library initiative, which sent librarians deep into Appalachia, was one of the New Deal’s most unique plans. The project, as implemented by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), distributed reading material to the people who lived in the craggy, 10,000-square-mile portion of eastern Kentucky. The state already trailed its neighbors in electricity and highways. And during the Depression, food, education and economic opportunity were even scarcer for Appalachians. They also lacked books: In 1930, up to 31 percent of people in eastern Kentucky couldn’t read. Librarians rode up into the Kentucky mountains, their saddlebags stuffed with books, doling out reading material to isolated rural people, and teaching they and their children to read. It is a wack-a-doodle idea, but as portrayed in this book, it helped people and it gave the women who acted as librarians on horseback a lease on life. There is the liberated Maureen O'Hare who doesn't want a man to place limitations on her. There is Alice Bennett who is in a loveless--and sexless--marriage. There is the Isabelle Brady, who feels deformed, but is transformed on a horse. They all benefit from their work and are of benefit to their communities. Moyes is a good storyteller and this is no exception, and it brings to light a small piece of American history.