What a fascinating story! I loved this book - I really enjoy books that teach me something but don’t kind of hit you round the face with it and that’s exactly what I felt when reading this. The idea of women stepping outside the norms of their society in order to deliver books to people who would never otherwise have this opportunity is fantastic and this alongside Jojo Moyes readable style and characters made me read well into the night. Well worth the book ‘hangover’ in the morning!
I’ll be recommending this book to my book club friends for sure.

Such a lot to love here. Loved the idea of an early mobile library on horseback, loved the strong feisty women who ran it, and most of all, loved that it is based in truth.
Definitely one to be recommended
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.

I, like many others, am familiar with Moyes' other work and enjoyed her Me Before You series. I went in to this read knowing that it was going to be very different and hoping that the writing style and the characters paid off and I was pleasantly surprised.

Friendship is at the heart of this story and the different women that the tale is woven around are fleshed out and realistic (of their time period). I wouldn't want to go in to the book with more information than I had so I will leave it at that.

Whilst I hate the term "beach read", this is a great read for a warm sunny day with a nice refreshing drink by your side. Would recommend.

4/5

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟I find it impossible to convey in words how much I loved this book. We already know from previous books that Jojo Moyes is a gifted story teller who can engage the reader in the text. This book transports us to rural Kentucky just prior to WW2 and absorbs us into the lives of the women running the pack horse library. The characters were wonderful and you can imagine the scenery and clear mountain air. Rarely does a book make me so emotional ... read it as you will not be disappointed.🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

JoJo Moyes has done it AGAIN! How is it possible that Ms Moyes can write such consistently BRILLIANT, truly UNPUTDOWNABLE stories! I inhaled The Giver of Stars right from the get-go.........read it in 2 sittings and am only now shaking the trail dust from my breeches :) I honestly feel as if I've just returned from the Kentucky mountains and suffering phantom saddle sores as a consequence. If this book isn't made into a movie then I'll eat the ears off my mule. All kidding aside, this was a MAGNIFICENT book from an author who's at the height of her writing power. I won't cover the gist of the story as the blurb does that for me but honestly, the characters, the setting, the prose...oh I could wax on forever but still not do this book justice. Hands down - THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ ALL YEAR. Please folks, do yourselves a massive favour and READ IT. Did I mention at all that I just loved, loved, loved this book?

1930s. Kentucky, America. Horses. Five women on a quest to deliver their love of books. If you like all these ingredients then you'll love this book.

Not my usual sort of book but the author attracted me as I’d liked her previous books.

This one is different and it didn’t hook me straight away but eventually I warmed to the characters and enjoyed the book overall.

Jojo Moyes has done it again. Another brilliant book about the complexities of life. As a reader I was taken through all the emotions possible. Would highly recommend this book to my friends to read.

This was a stunning read. Charming yet strong female characters dealing with the complications of rural life and small town politics, and overcoming huge challenges to prevail. Poetic and deeply moving. Very much a recommended read.

Firstly I would like to thank the author, Michael Joseph publishers and Netgalley for my free ARC.

The letter to the Reader at the opening of this tale gave me goosebumps. I felt so excited to start reading but not to gallop through it, I wanted to give all the author's hard research some air, some space and time to sit with me, and for me to be able to absorb the way she had put the words together ...
Margery O'Hare is flinty. She is fiercely independent, unyielding in her determination to bring book learning to the mountain folk of Eastern Kentucky, and passionate about her liberty. She is also generous of heart, a friend indeed and a confidante. With these qualities she brings together a group of women librarians that are searching for something that is missing in their own lives, and they find it delivering books to their mountain community. Alice finds her uniqueness, her confidence and self esteem, Beth finds a kinship, Izzy finds a life unlocked from her disability and Sophie regains her independence and purpose. Strong, dedicated and tenacious, they go with grace to the people who delight in the books they bring to a new life.
This is such an overwhelmingly compelling read that I can't do more than recommend you embrace it whole heartedly. It is not saccharine but instead you will find characters who have substance and shine, and a world that is rugged in terrain, and robust in its traditions and values.
Moyes has this habit of making her characters your friend, your neighbour, your sister ..., and as the reader you have all those feelings of frustration, confusion, compassion and love towards them*
Do not miss this one. This story is one that will stay with you and shape your ongoing days.

I have read and enjoyed many other Jojo Moyes books. This novel is different from her usual stories. I liked that, as some authors just write the same type of book over and over. I think the author is brave to try a different story. I had never heard of the initiative in the US during the 1930's of a kind of Mobile Library on horseback going up into remote rural areas. I enjoyed the characters and I enjoyed the story. I recommend this book if you like an interesting and informative story.

I really enjoyed this book about five feisty women in Kentucky who set out to be the Horseback Librarians sharing the gift of reading and learning in order to change lives. I loved the landscape, the characters of the librarians, their courage, friendship and love for each other which takes them through significant challenges and changes them all. They each find their core and impact those around them.

A lovely heartwarming book - one I will be recommending!

Jojo Moyes has always been one of my favourite authors, so I was super excited to get sent a copy of The Giver of Stars.
This book is wonderful and exceeded all of my expectations. It is beautifully written and the characters are engaging and well developed. The storyline is touching and will stay with you long after you’ve read it. One of my favourites this year.

Alice has recently moved to Kentucky  in search of a better life with her new husband. What she finds there however is much more than she expected. Her marriage is not happy and she soon finds  a new purpose in life when she meets the women who have set up a moving library service using mules and donkeys as moving libraries.

I'm not sure who does the most work to be honest. The women have some tricky issues to solve and they are all escaping something and someone. This library idea gives everyone a purpose. Those donkeys meanwhile have to trek for miles trhrough hard terrain, montains and over obstacles to take books to people and rural communities who need them. Together the women really make a difference to people most in need and it's a joy to read this and then realise that it's based on true facts. Such a story needs to be shouted from the rooftops and I can only say that I think Jojo is the ideal author to tell this story. I'm so pleased she has!

This is such an inspiring and uplifting story.  Through Alice and these womens' eyes, you get a real insight into life in Kentucky during the years of depression. You can tell the author has researched this story with passion and you can really tell she's fallen in love with both the story and the characters within it. It's so vividly recreated and brings an amazing part of history alive.

Such a story is heartwarming anyway, but one which involves books and the wonders of books is especially lovely. Books provide an escape to anyone who reads them, but this story takes that idea further. She's moved to escape one world only to find herself trapped in another. Books and the tavelling library give her a chance for her to see what lies ahead, outside the cage if you like. She can see and taste freedom. There's a sisterhood out there for the taking. Every women in the story has a story to tell themselves and it was  a joy to meet them all.

The characters are richly drawn, the setting richly evoked and the idea of travelling libraries with horses is just heartwarming in every way.

Well Jo Jo Moyles has done it again it’s 5 stars from me. This is a story based in the 1930’s in America following some extraordinarily strong women. Alice was bought up in England and dreams of a better life , Bennet and American mine owner comes into her life and sweeps her off her feet. Alice agrees to marry him and move to Kentucky dreaming of a better life where she hopes to feel more cherished and will fit in well with her new surroundings.

Alice becomes a volunteer with a group of local ladies who set a traveling library. On horseback the ladies trek through the mountains to families offering books to improve their lives and reading skills. Life doesn’t always go the way you want and the women overcome some very difficult times. This book will draw you in feeling you are one of the group of volunteers trekking alongside them in the mountains. A truly uplifting story giving you an insight to life in Kentucky during the depression.

Love, love, love this book! And if you love sharing the joy of reading, this book is absolutely for you too.

The Horseback Librarians really existed back in 1930s-40s Kentucky, and The Giver of Stars is based on the setup of a new branch.

Margery O'Hare, an unconventional woman, already with a tainted reputation as daughter of a moonshiner, starts the branch up with her mule Charley. Next to be recruited is Alice Van Cleve, an English woman, newly (and unhappily) married to the son of the local mine-owner. Margery and Alice recruit more girls to join them, and together some formidable friendships are formed as the ladies buck all conventions.

A story about the power of reading, the power of friendship, and of independence. Brilliant and fascinating.

I read this book for Netgalley, prerelease.

I’d actually give this book four and a half stars!
I have enjoyed JoJo Moyes books for some time, so I’m always excited to hear she has another book in the pipeline or pending release.

The Giver Of Stars, was inspired by a remarkable true story. JoJo Moyes also visited different places to research her book settings.
I found this very prevalent in reading this book and I quickly began to be able to hear the accents of the characters, their surroundings and a great sense of the time it was set in.


'Alice had come halfway across the world to find that, yet again, she was considered wanting. Well, she thought, if that was what everyone thought, she might as well live up to it.'

England, late 1930s, and Alice Wright - restless, stifled - makes an impulsive decision to marry wealthy American Bennett van Cleve and leave her home and family behind.

But stuffy, disapproving Baileyville, Kentucky, where her husband favours work over his wife, and is dominated by his overbearing father, is not the adventure - or the escape - that she hoped for.

That is, until she meets Margery O'Hare - daughter of a notorious felon and a troublesome woman the town wishes to forget.

Margery's on a mission to spread the wonder of books and reading to the poor and lost - and she needs Alice's help.

Trekking alone under big open skies, through wild mountain forests, Alice, Margery and their fellow sisters of the trail discover freedom, friendship - and a life to call their own.

But when Baileyville turns against them, will their belief in one another - and the power of the written word - be enough to save them?

Inspired by a remarkable true story, The Giver of Stars features five incredible women who will prove to be every bit as beloved as Lou Clark, the unforgettable heroine of Me Before you.

I was able to follow Alice’s movements and actions as the story unveiled. She is aware of her differences, as her own family tell her often how she says the wrong things. That she is impulsive. I find myself liking Alice more as time went on and new characters were introduced.
The description of the town, questioning whether books should be distributed through the town via the travelling library, gave a beautiful insight into that point in time. I could see the stony faces of men who wanted to keep their houses (women folk) in order, as well as the ladies who had more to give than running the home, swishing in their appropriate length and fashioned dresses.

I will admit I fell in love with some characters and furiously despised others. I cried a little. I also found myself feeling a bit silly trying to contain the grin on my face, and a chuckle.

I found this to be different from books I’ve read before by this author but that doesn’t takes anything away from her brilliant writing. Being able to take a readers mind elsewhere for periods of time and left wanting more, wishing it to not end is an amazing talent. But in my opinion, JoJo Moyes has done it again!

This is the kind of book that, once I finished it, I thought about and missed the characters.
Set in Kentucky, when a woman's place was to serve her husband in the home, a group of women set out to create a horseback library, delivering books to rural homesteads. The story theme is the strength and bond of friendship that the women, all from different backgrounds and in very different situations, forge together.
I could not put this book down, it is historically interesting with engaging characters.

This is an abolutely fantastic book; so well written and really evocative of place and time. The setting is the mountains of Kentucky at the end of the Depression and just prior to WW2. The characters are from varying classes and backgrounds, with women at the centre of the story and the men mostly in supporting roles. The prejudices of small town life, the problems of making a living and education in the backwoods are all in there. The main thread of the story is love and friendship and how these can overcome so many obstacles. This book i also about emancipation and there are even elements of care for the environment.

This is one of those kooks which is very difficult to put down. Highly recommended.

I have read Jojo Moye's Me before You series, which I quite liked, but I not her others as I think they would be too sentimental for me. The setting is a departure from her normal modern domestic genre, and she has done masses of research to make it feel authentic. I enjoyed it but found it a little too cosy, despite the hardships and threatening situations portrayed. The women were a little too heroic and loyal, the bad men were really bad, the good men were adoring partners. I would have prefer a harder edge and less predictable outcomes.