Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt's new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. What happens to them -- and to the men they love -- becomes a classic drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. Though they face all kinds of dangers, they're committed to their job -- bringing books to people who have never had any, sharing the gift of learning that will change their lives. Based on a true story rooted in America's past, at times funny, at others heartbreaking, this is a novel of women's friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.
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