The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

Val Penny ♦ December 21, 2021 ♦ 1 Comment

I went out with my friend Jill to celebrate the birth of her first grandchild and she kindly gave me The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. She had read the book and thought that I would enjoy it. I have read a couple of nooks by Jojo Moyes, and although she does not write in my favourite genre, I have always enjoyed her work and was looking forward to reading The Giver of Stars.

The Blurb

THE GREATEST LOVE STORY IS THE ONE YOU LEAST EXPECT . . .

Alice Wright doesn’t love her new American husband.

Nor her domineering father-in-law or the judgmental townsfolk of Baileyville, Kentucky.

Stifled and misunderstood, she yearns for escape and finds it in defiant Margery O’Hare and the sisterhood bringing books to the isolated and vulnerable.

But when her father-in-law and the town turn against them, Alice fears the freedom, friendship and the new love she’s found will be lost . . .

The Review

The Giver of Stars starts slowly and had I not been given the book by a friend whom I trust, I probably would not have continued with the novel. That would have been my loss.

The story is set in the 1930s. The main character, Alice Wright is unhappy at home in England and when a handsome rich young American, Bennett Van Cleve, attracts her attention she excitedly marries him and moves thousands of miles to a foreign country and a completely different way of life in the small town of Baileyville Kentucky.

Alice is desperate to be happy and to make a success of her marriage but finds life living in the house owned by her father-in-law difficult. With her spirit stifled and almost broken she finds acceptance and hope amongst the mismatched group of women who run the local lending library. She joins them to deliver books to those who live in outlying areas.

Although each of the women has problems of their own, they support each other and their community in a myriad of different ways. Through her work with the library Alice finds the love, companionship and support that she has always craved.

The Giver of Stars is a beautifully written book with a delightful story. It made me laugh and cry as few novels have ever done. I highly recommend this book and am sure that it would make an excellent book group read.

The Author

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.

Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.

Moyes’ novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.

She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.