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The Boxcar Librarian

A Novel

ebook
0 of 3 copies available
Wait time: About 12 weeks
0 of 3 copies available
Wait time: About 12 weeks

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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    • Booklist

      February 1, 2025
      As the Great Depression drags on, Millie Lang, working for the Federal Writers' Project American Guide Series, ends up in Missoula, Montana, to find out who sabotaged the project staff's last submission and get them back on track, uncovering stories that don't quite add up. Back in 1924 Missoula, Alice Monroe is eager to shed her privileged life and determined to create a railroad library that will bring books to mining camps in the area. She hires a librarian for the route but can't resist tagging along, getting more adventure than she bargained for. In 1914, Colette Durand's hero is her father, a Shakespeare-loving miner and union man. After his untimely death, she spirals into a journey of revenge against a powerful copper-mining company, with books as her only solace. The three women's stories weave together in a nonlinear fashion as the mystery of what happens to Colette unfolds. Inspired by the real Missoula Boxcar Library, Labuskes (The Lost Book of Bonn, 2024) explores how isolation and distrust let corruption thrive, how community strengthens our bonds, and how our stories can connect us better than just about anything else.

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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