Books Set in North America; United States; Kentucky

The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes (2019)

 

Between 1935 and 1943 the Pack Horse Library Project was a program administered through the WPA.  The WPA hired women in Appalachia to ride horses and mules through the rural countryside delivering books to families living in remote areas.  This novel is based on that Project.

 

This novel was based on this Project and focuses on several women who were part of the Horseback Librarians of Baileyville, Kentucky.  Alice Wright, a young British woman, married the handsome Bennett Van Cleve, a wealthy American.  She dreamed of escaping her sheltered life in England and envisioned an exciting life in the United States. Instead, she found herself in rural Kentucky, living with her husband and his father.  The Van Cleve family made their money running a coal mine.  Life in Kentucky was far from what Alice thought life in America would be like, nor was her marriage.

 

When a traveling library was formed in Baileyville, Alice eagerly volunteered.  Margery O’Hare was instrumental in coordinating the traveling librarians and taught Alice to ride a horse through the rural back trails of Kentucky and to shoot a gun.  Margery, however, was a bit of an outcast and from a “bad” family.  Alice and Margery were soon joined by Beth, a renegade; Izzy, a young woman affected with polio; and Sophie, the Black librarian.  The library provided Alice with a sanctuary from her loveless marriage and her cruel father-in-law.  She formed bonds with the other women delivering books to the greater community.

 

After it became known that the women of Baileyville were requesting a factual book on sexual satisfaction, the future of the library became threatened.  The library was further threatened when tragedy befell one of the librarians.

 

I enjoyed this book, however, it only briefly touched upon the treatment of workers in the coal mines.  I thought this would also be a thread of the novel.

 

Read:  Sept. 30, 2020

 

3.5 Stars

 

Books Set in Asia and Australia

A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute (1950)

A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute was published nearly 70 years ago, and although it clearly reflects the prejudices prevalent at the time (treatment of women and Australian aborigines), it is also a very fascinating novel about the resilience of humans in the face of adversary.

The novel follows Jean Paget, a young English woman, during and after World War II, and is narrated by her solicitor, a man old enough to be her father.  At the outbreak of World War II, Jean was working for a British company in Malaya.  When the Japanese invaded, women and children were taken prisoner.  The Japanese commander was reluctant to be responsible for the women and children, and as a result, they were forced to walk all around the country for duration of the War, always being told they were headed for a camp.  Finally, they were able to settle in a Malaya village, where they worked with the towns people until the end of the war.  By the end of the War, about half the women and children had died.  [Note:  this was based a historical event that actually took place in Sumatra.]

Before joining the Malaya village, however, during their travels, they encountered some Australian prisoners of war.  One of the prisoners was Joe Harman.  He and Jean struck up a friendship.  When he steals 5 chickens from the commander to give to the women, he his caught and crucified.  The women march on, believing that Joe is dead.

After the War, Jean returns to England, where she gets a job as a secretary at a leather goods factory.  She soon learns that she has come into a considerable (for the time) inheritance from an uncle she barely remembered.  She has enough money that she no longer needs to work.  She decides that she wants to use some of her money to build a well for the women in the Malaya village where she had been during the War.  She returns to the Malaya village, where she learns that Joe Harman survived.

Before returning to England, she decides to go to Australia to try to find Joe to thank him for his help during their trek around Malaya.  Six years have passed since they last saw each other.  She thought he was dead, and he thought she was married.  When he learns that she was single, he decided to go to England to find her ~ while she in in Australia looking for him.  Ultimately, they get together and truly fall in love.

While she is in Australia, she visits Alice Springs, which at the time was a bustling town in the Australian outback.  Joe runs a ranch in the middle of the outback, and the nearest town, Willstown, can hardly be considered town.  There is little there to attract families.  Jean doesn’t want Joe to change his life’s work, but at the same time doesn’t want to live in Willstown.  As she had proven during her trek around Malaya, Jean is a very resourceful and ambitious woman.  She decides to use her money to build up the town.  She opens a leather shoe factory and an ice-cream parlor.  She hires young women to work in these establishments.  These endeavors thrive, and Jean uses her inheritance to continue to invest in Willstown to make it a “town like Alice.”

As noted, this book was written 70 years ago.  As a result, the references and attitudes towards the Aborigines in the book were reflective of the time.  I found this to be very uncomfortable.  Still, this book is a wonderful story of facing and surviving hardships

I first read this book about 30 years ago.  I re-read for one of my book group discussions.  I’m glad I read again.

Read: October 12, 2019 (first read in October 1984)

4 Stars