Traveling through rough terrain, encountering all types of people: friendly, lonely, courageous, and even some unscrupulous, these women librarians’ stories show how extraordinary they were. Each novella was unique in showing strong, wonderful women who saw a need and were bold enough to meet it. They combined their love for books and people and risked their own safety to help those they served.
The relational elements that each story told of the people the librarians befriended were well developed. I also enjoyed seeing their love stories unfold. After reading these interesting novellas I thought it would have been an amazing job and ministry for those rural librarians who served during the Great Depression.
The story that I liked the most was Book Lady of the Bayou. Lily Bee helps bring the reclusive widower Lamar Davis back to life, much like the story of the Velveteen Rabbit that Lily Bee lends to his daughter, Evie. This is a sweet, tender love story that gives the gift of hope where it was desperately needed.
I enjoyed the collection of novellas. I recommend reading this if you like wholesome and uplifting Christian stories similar to Christy by Catherine Marshall. Thank you to NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for an advanced reader’s copy; a positive review was not required.
More About the Book:
A brave fight for literacy during the Great DepressionFour women set out on horseback to bring the library to remote communities
Part of FDR’s New Deal was the Works Progress Administration, which funded the Pack Horse Library Initiative. Ride along with four book-loving women who bravely fight for literacy in remote communities during the Great Depression by carrying library books via horseback. Will their efforts be rewarded by finding love in the process?
Love’s Turning Page by Cynthia Hickey
1936, Ozark Mountains
Grace Billings jumped at the chance to be a traveling librarian, but she didn’t anticipate the long days of work, the intense poverty, or the handsome new schoolteacher whose love for the mountain people surpasses even her own.
In This Moment by Patty Smith Hall
1936, Pine Mountain, Georgia
Forced out of her nursing job due to budget cuts, Ruth Sims applies for a position with the Pack Horse Library incentive, only to discover she must go to the one place she swore never to return. The children instantly steal her heart with their thirst for books, and she’s happy in her post until she meets their teacher, Will Munroe—the man who broke her heart.
Book Lady of the Bayou by Marilyn Turk
1936, Mississippi
Forced out of her comfort zone, Lily Bee Davis travels by mule or boat taking books to remote areas. When she meets little Evie and her reclusive father at dilapidated plantation house, she is drawn by their losses and longs to draw them out into life again.
The Lawman and the Librarian by Kathleen Y’Barbo
1936, Kentucky
Lottie Trent connects with a backwoods bully’s wife by secretly carrying messages for her in exchange for books. FBI agent Clayton Turnbow is on the trail of a criminal gang and discovers the packhorse librarian maybe a key member.
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