The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

genre: historical fiction

When British Alice arrives in rural Kentucky with her new husband and a suitcase full of dreams, she's looking forward to an American life.  But this is during the Depression and making a life for herself - and being a wife - in her new small town ends up being much harder than she'd anticipated.  When an opportunity arises to get out of the house and be a part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice knows that this might be exactly what she needs.  While riding on a horse through the woods of Kentucky delivering books is fraught with challenge the people she meets through this experience will change her life in huge ways - both happy and hard.

This was really readable and interesting.  I like fish-out-of-water stories and small town stories and stories about BOOKS and strong women and ALL the things.  There is a lot here, a lot of complicated relationships between people that love each other (and don't), between those in power and those who might feel powerless until someone helps them to believe otherwise.   It did NOT go where I thought it would, honestly, and I liked that.  I don't know why I can't rave about it - seeing as I liked so much about it.  Maybe Alice just didn't fully capture my heart.  Or maybe the antagonistic characters were too bad for me to believe them.  I don't know.  But the time period felt grounded and I liked the family-you-choose aspect, so, I'm glad I finished it.