This is the third book by Jojo Moyes that I have read, being the other two "Silver Bay" and "Foreign Fruit", and I have loved all of them. I read somewhere that this had been her first historical novel, and I have found the History in the novel pretty appealing: a backpack library, books delivered on horse, in remote mountainous Kentucky, and by a bunch of women!! In the 1930´s!! As an initiative, I think it was awesome, considering the time and place in which it took place as it helped bring literacy to many homes and many children, apart from the obvious relief from hard work and long winter evenings that reading allows. I think the writer could have found few more interesting episodes in the History of the USA to write about. However, in my opinion, more historical background should have been included as you are left with a wish to know more about it . This fact, and something about the characters that I mention below is why I did not rate this book five stars.
And about the novel, it is atmospheric; the language is lyrical, poignant; the thrill in the story builds up to reach a point in which it is difficult to stop reading. The plot is remarkable, linking all the side stories in a whole, and solving situations in extremis, which increases the sense of the reader being totally hooked in the story; the main characters are wonderfully outlined,the reader´s admiration for Marge´s strength, for Fred´s and Sven´s devotion, the despise felt for Van Cleeve and even for Bennet. However you can´t avoid feeling that some of the secondary characters could have been endowed with more "substance": Izzy and her courage; Beth and her strong personality; Sophia, Mrs Brady, the hateful Annie..... I have found them somehow lacking.
You feel transported to Baileyville, you live Alice Van Cleeve´s life by her, feeling her expectations of her marriage and new life; her disappointment for what she finds her new life actually is, sharing house with an oppressive, tyrannical father in law and under the shadow of a recently deceased mother in law; for her husband, weak in front of his father and in some other areas... She finds release and a new life when she meets Margery O´Hare, the utmost "black sheep" in a bigoted, narrow-minded, opinionated community, and joins her in the horseback library. From there Alice´s character starts taking off, and she gets to be brave enough to face up to her family and to the community in issues important to her and her beloved ones.
But it is not only about Alice´s life; it is also about the lives of all the women who greatly benefitted from the Backhorse Librarians´ devotion to their jobs, no matter the weather, under the snow or the scorching summer temperatures, four days a week on their horses; their compassion to those needed of help and comfort; their courage in the face of a "natural" disaster; their solidarity with women in general, and with the weak and abused in particular.... And all of this without mentioning their personal lives, the huge friendship that ends up bounding them.
A great story. (Commented by Marta Oyonarte)
