"Sometimes books hold more than words"
Reviewed by Evie Harris
Posted March 21, 2025
Women's Fiction Historical | Suspense Historical
Millie Lang, a WPA (Works Progress Administration) editor had two options: she could accept a pink slip or go to Montana and find out why all the documents submitted for the American Guide Series were sent in blank. The staff insisted they weren't responsible for this. They suspected the Copper Kings were responsible as they didn't want their dirty laundry aired. However, Millie wasn't so sure. She began to think that the town's librarian, Alice Monroe might somehow be involved. Ten years prior, Alice had established the Boxcar Library so that books could be delivered to the men in the remote mining towns. When Colette Durand, a miner's daughter, applied for the librarian position Alice felt she had found the perfect librarian. They set off on the train's maiden trip, but only Alice came home. Why?
Based on real events and inspired by the actual Missoula Boxcar Library, THE BOXCAR LIBRARIAN, by Brianna Labuskes, is an exciting Depression-era story in which the lives of three very different women become intertwined. The author skillfully brings the different and difficult time periods as well as the complex characters to life. Politics, the power of the Copper Kings and the wealthy play a big part in the narrative as does the power of books and the written word. Seamlessly blended together are themes of revenge, hope and the surprise of second chances. The well-plotted story includes shocking revelations, meaningful dialogue and deeply personal observations. The end result? THE BOXCAR LIBRARIAN is a poignant and powerful novel that is well worth reading. Highly recommended.
SUMMARY
Inspired by true events, a thrilling Depression-era novel from the author of The Librarian of Burned Books about a woman’s quest to uncover a mystery surrounding a local librarian and the Boxcar Library—a converted mining train that brought books to isolated rural towns in Montana.
When Works Progress Administration (WPA) editor Millie Lang finds herself on the wrong end of a potential political scandal, she’s shipped off to Montana to work on the state’s American Guide Series—travel books intended to put the nation’s destitute writers to work.
Millie arrives to an eclectic staff claiming their missed deadlines are due to sabotage, possibly from the state’s powerful Copper Kings who don’t want their long and bloody history with union organizers aired for the rest of the country to read. But Millie begins to suspect that the answer might instead lie with the town’s mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe.
More than a decade earlier, Alice Monroe created the Boxcar Library in order to deliver books to isolated mining towns where men longed for entertainment and connection. Alice thought she found the perfect librarian to staff the train car in Colette Durand, a miner’s daughter with a shotgun and too many secrets behind her eyes.
Now, no one in Missoula will tell Millie why both Alice and Colette went out on the inaugural journey of the Boxcar Library, but only Alice returned.
The three women’s stories dramatically converge in the search to uncover what someone is so desperately trying to hide: what happened to Colette Durand.
Inspired by the fascinating, true history of Missoula’s Boxcar Library, the novel blends the story of the strong, courageous women who survived and thrived in the rough and rowdy West with that of the power of standing together to fight for workers’ lives. And through it all shines the capacity of books to provide connection and light to those who need it most.
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