Not so much a book review as a history lesson!

I have just read this fascinating book by JoJo Moyes.

Her books are often romantic tales, but this is somewhat different as it is based round historical events.

Have you ever heard of the Packhorse Librarians?

If you live in Kentucky then probably you have. I hadn't, and the book immediately made me long to find out more.

When JoJo found a reference to the Librarians she knew that she simply had to write a story set around them. 

It was a time of great poverty after the Depression. The Work Progress  Administration (WPA) wanted to bring reading materials to those who lived in remote areas far out from a town centre, and so the Packhorse Librarians were set up in 1935. It seems to have been ladies only who rode ponies or mules far into the 'hollers' of the Appalachian mountains. They traversed rivers, forests, found their ways blocked by floods or deep snow, all to bring the written word to families who might not even own a book.

Jo Jo herself stayed in a remote cabin, riding out to get the feel of what it must have been like for the girls. She passed abandoned homes, rode up canyons where no one had lived for years, and fended off snakes....all in the name of research. Her story is centred round a small group of five women riders, and yes, there is both gentle romance, friendship and hardship, giving a well crafted feel of the lives lived by the women.

Up to 30% of the population could not read. and there were many picture books sent out for children, who would often help their parents read the words. 
Look at these two little things with their armfuls of books!

Some families believed that only the Scriptures should be read, but others revelled in the magazines with recipes and medication ideas. The librarians would sometimes be asked to read to the folk that they were visiting.

Once the books became too tattered to send out, they were cut up and made into scrapbooks full of tips and recipes. 

Over the eight years that the scheme was running, thirty groups evolved, serving thousands of people.
I perhaps haven't told you as much about JoJo's story as I might have done, but I thought the whole subject, as well as the book itself , was so very interesting.
Photos taken from the many in Google images.

This will be my last post for a while as we will shortly be going for a couple of week's 'respite' at the lovely Blind Veterans' Centre near Brighton.