February 19, 2026
2026-02-19T09:00:00
This Dialogue will be held online via the Zoom platform
Athenian Dialogue: The Giver of Stars VIRTUAL
Thursday, February 19, 2026
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Hosted by the New England Assn. of City and Town Clerks – Connecticut
Facilitated by Jannette Goodall, MMC, TRMC, City Clerk, Ft. Worth, Texas
Maximum of 30 participants
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 Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them--and to the men they love--becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity, and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.