Addie Cowherd is doing well in college and looking forward to her senior year. Then she discovers that her father has lost his job and she will have to quit school and find work to help her parents out of their financial bind. She takes a job as a packhorse librarian to a backwards mining community in the hills of Kentucky. It is very different from the city where she grew up and the townspeople are suspicious of the newcomer. Emmett Tharp went to the same college as Addie, but grew up in the small mining town. He has graduated and is looking for work but at the height of the depression there is not much work to be found. They end up working together, and strike up a friendship, but not everyone is happy with their city ways and budding romance. Will the community prejudice and superstition put an end to all they are trying to do to make life better for everyone.
I thought this was going to be a sappy romance, but it turned out to be more about overcoming ignorance in an impoverished community than it was about their romance. I have read several books about the packhorse librarians now. The Giver of Stars was a bit more gritty, but really well written. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is still probably my favorite. This one isn't bad, though, and quite clean. The writing is not spectacular, but just fine, and the plot is interesting. The romance between Addie and Emmett is understated, but it is still a romance, and they are both really likeable characters. If you are interested in the topic and are looking for something inoffensive, this is a good choice. (2020, 368p)
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