Set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their unforgettable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond When Alice Wright agrees to marry handsome American Bennett Van Cleve and leave her stifling life in England, she has little idea that life in Baileyville, Kentucky, will soon seem as constrained as life back home--especially since marrying Bennett also turns out to mean marrying his overbearing father, owner of the local coal mine. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Mrs. Roosevelt's new traveling WPA library, Alice signs on enthusiastically. The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, the smart-talking, self-sufficient daughter of a notorious local criminal, a woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything. Alice finds Margery as bracing and courageous as anyone she's ever met--and comes to rely on her, especially as her marriage starts to fail. They will be joined by three other women--two white, one black--and become known as the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. What happens to these women--and to the men they love--becomes a classic drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. Though they face all kinds of dangers--from moonshiners to snakes, from mountains to floods--and social disapproval to boot. But they believe deeply in their work bringing books to people who had never had any, expanding horizons and arming them with facts that will change their lives. Based on a true story rooted in America's past, the storytelling itself here is enthralling--the pages fly, and the book is unparalleled in its scope and its epic breadth.