The Giver of Stars

With harvest and the hog-slaughter season over, Baileyville descends into its yearly slump of dark days—a period of time that will result in midwives staying busy come summer: “There was a reason most babies came in summer, and that was because there wasn’t a whole heap to do in Baileyville once the light had gone” (148). The Pack Horse Library and its suggestive books help romance to blossom. Men who would normally stay out drinking or remain angry all day now walk with their wives, show affection, and even explore new types of intimacy—thanks to the secretive little blue book.

One day, Margery enters the Pack Horse Library to find Izzy and Beth reading the little blue book. They’re astonished at what is says about women needing to have sex to not have mental breakdowns, among other things. Alice is clearly annoyed, and when she and Beth get into an argument, Beth suggests that she’s having a mental breakdown because she isn’t having sex with Bennett.

Margery and the girls leave to give Alice space. Fred enters later, and noticing Alice’s depression, suggests she read a poem by Amy Lowell called “The Giver of Stars.” Alice always feels drawn to Fred when he comes around, but they again part awkwardly. After reading the poem, Alice feels renewed. She then reads the little blue book, goes home, and attempts to make love to Bennett. She apologizes to him, but just when they begin to make love, she tries something from the little blue book on him, which upsets him. He accuses her of acting like a prostitute and reading smut when she mentions the book, and he says she talks too much. He then breaks a lamp, waking his father. Shocked at his attitude, Alice leaves their room and sleeps on the daybed.

Winter hits Baileyville hard. Margery and Sven spend many mornings, like this one, cuddling together for warmth. When he’s gone, Margery often wears his shirts because she loves his scent. When they dress, Sven wonders if she might go to work with him, but Margery’s no longer allowed on the Hoffman Mine property. She isn’t sure if Mr. Van Cleve knows she’s the one helping pass out flyers about the mine’s abuse of power, but it’s clear Mr. Van Cleve is still upset about her publicly embarrassing him about hiring black employees. While they’re eating, Sven brings up the marriage again, souring Margery’s mood. Margery says, “I love you, Sven, but I love you as a free woman” (161). Even though Sven promises to let Margery live as she pleases, Margery doesn’t want anyone “letting” her do anything. When Sven finally admits that he’s afraid Margery will one day leave him, she assures him that she will love him for as long as he’ll allow it.

The Pack Horse Library women receive many Christmas gifts, and they decide to give Fred a gift in appreciation for his support. Alice’s entire life now revolves around the library, and the others see a marked difference in her demeanor. She’s withdrawn, and hardly ever smiles. When Alice leaves after the group discusses a gift for Fred, the others briefly talk about her problems at home. Where once Bennett seemed like the handsomest, kindest bachelor, the women now see him as a cold-hearted brute. Margery, who notices Fred tinkering away in the library, tells the others to stop gossiping immediately: It’s clear to everyone now that Fred likes Alice.

Alice visits Kathleen, who suffers silently after her husband Garrett’s death. Kathleen surprises Alice by uncharacteristically breaking down. Alice comforts her, and then reads Bible passages to her for strength. Kathleen eventually realizes that Alice, too, is suffering. When Kathleen says “I’m sorry” to Alice, Alice knows that she’s referring to Bennett.

Sophia often relates the goings-on in town to her brother William. She tells him about Alice’s sullenness and Bennett’s rudeness, Fred’s crush on Alice, and other events. She also relates what happened one day when Margery stormed into the library in a cold sweat. Margery seemed beside herself, something that Margery never is. She kept looking outside and asking if anyone was searching for her. She then suggested that the girls all get guns and learn how to shoot, confusing both Sophia and Fred. Margery eventually shook it off, though she didn’t tell anyone why she aborted her trip to Arnott’s Ridge (the setting from the prologue). Though Margery later dismissed gun talk, Sophia found a Colt .45 in Margery’s bag a few days after.

Margery asks Sven to meet her after work one day. He initially finds it amusing, though he tenses up when she says “please,” as Margery never says please. When he arrives to her house, she’s been sitting in the cold with no fire on indoors, attentive yet tired. Margery relates what happened with Clem up on Arnott’s Ridge, and Sven gets so angry that he wants to take revenge on Clem, though he keeps his feelings inside. Tired and shaken, Margery agrees to eat and then sleep while Sven watches for signs of trouble.

Alice, who dislikes the porcelain dolls that Mr. Van Cleve keeps around the house (they remind him of his late wife Dolores), secretly takes two and gifts them to Jim Horner’s girls. Jim doesn’t like the idea of receiving fancy gifts, so he trades them for a new venture he’s starting to make money: taxidermy. Though Alice is horrified of the stuffed deer head he gifts her, she takes it to the library as a “mascot.”

Mr. Van Cleve and Bennett have lunch with Governor Hatch in Lexington. Mr. Van Cleve is still angry at how his son seemingly buckles to the whims of Alice, and he blames Margery’s influence. He attempts to tarnish the library’s name by telling the governor about the things Alice purportedly tried doing to Bennett after she read a sex book in the library. The governor—comically—seems more interested in the details of what “pretty” Alice did, but when Mr. Van Cleve turns it into a moral matter that might affect the entire state, the governor offers his half-hearted approval for Mr. Van Cleve to handle the matter in his own way.

While Mr. Van Cleve and Bennett have lunch with the governor, Margery and Alice also arrive in Lexington for Christmas shopping. When Margery can’t take Alice’s aloofness any longer, the women go to a bar, where Alice finally admits what’s on her mind: “Oh, what is there to say? I hate being married. I hate living in that house—I’m not sure which of us is more miserable. But he’s all I have. […] [The library] is the only thing that brings me happiness at all. So, I’m trapped” (186). Margery assures Alice that, though things seem stifling, she always has a way out. They’re soon interrupted by a man who flirts with them, but Margery whispers in his ear and threatens to shoot him, so he leaves hastily.

Mr. Van Cleve becomes incensed when he spies Alice and Margery leaving the bar. He tells Bennett to get his wife, but Bennett tells him to leave Alice alone. Later that night, Mr. Van Cleve yells at Alice during dinner for taking Dolores’s dolls. He can’t believe she gave them to “hillbillies,” and takes offense at Alice’s suggestion that the dolls do nothing for grown men anyway. He demands she retrieve the dolls and stop working at the library, and when Alice adamantly refuses to do both, Mr. Van Cleve beats her in front of Bennett and a gleeful Annie (the maid, who disliked Alice from day one). Bennett finally intervenes, but too late. Alice, bloody, dizzy, and in shock, leaves the house without even a coat and walks all the way to Margery’s in the cold.