In the early part of the last century, Millie Lang --- who feels like a burden on her family --- leaves Texas and finds work in Washington, DC for the Federal Writers' Project, a New Deal agency meant to help Americans survive the Great Depression. She enjoys it there and doesn’t want to be shipped off to Montana by any stretch, but a heroic act on her part (not seen as such by some in power) gets her sent there. It’s either Montana or a pink slip. A slip-up by a group of writers in Missoula working on the American Guide Series needs to be investigated. Somehow, their submission is just a bunch of blank pages and/or gibberish. Millie’s job is to fix it by the deadline.

"Missoula County librarian Ruth Worden inspired Brianna Labuskes to create Alice Monroe. From there, she followed where her imagination took her to bring readers an incredible, wonderful story. Don’t miss THE BOXCAR LIBRARIAN."

In Missoula, Millie meets her new staff, one of whom is a woman named Alice Monroe. Over a decade before, Alice had been involved in driving books out to small mining towns and camps. With no other forms of entertainment, books filled a need. One day, she hit upon the notion that, if she were to outfit a train car with shelves and man it with a librarian, she could provide books to many more men and their families. She would just have to find support for her idea. It took some campaigning, but, in the end, Alice got her boxcar library. And she got a librarian in answer to her ad. The only thing is, she wanted a man for the job. Instead, she got Colette Durand.

Colette comes with her own set of mysteries. She is a woman of few words and speaks little of her past. Any time a camera is around, she makes a point of turning away. At the inauguration ceremony, she manages to disappear. She never goes anywhere without her shotgun. And the woman often dresses like a man. Despite all of that, Alice likes her. When it comes time for the train to pull out, Colette pleads with Alice to join her. At first, Alice says no. Having led a life sheltered by her father, the mayor, she can’t imagine doing any such thing. But then, she decides to throw caution to the wind and sets out with the boxcar library. It is, after all, her pride and joy.

Fast forward several years. Millie is learning about the past and trying to uncover the truth surrounding the sabotaged pages. While doing that, she grows to care deeply for the people with whom she’s working. But she’s puzzled by Sidney, their cameraman. He seems too privileged to have gotten this job, since it’s offered to the destitute. Is he there because something is going on between him and Alice? Are there sparks between the professor and Flo? Beyond possible romance, everyone appears to be hiding something. But Millie doesn’t want to discover anything about any of them that she will have to report back to her boss. And somewhere in the midst of all of that, Colette plays a part. What is it that drives her so passionately?

Their stories are told bouncing from 1917 to 1936, years in between and years long after. It is easy to fall in love with these characters. They are so real, so flawed, so full of love and anger, grief and hope. It’s all set in a time when life was tough. Montana was in a stranglehold by one mining company that kept its workers under its heel, offering them little hope of a better life. The Missoula Boxcar Library was a very real entity, one small ray of light that existed for the people in the towns along the rails.

Missoula County librarian Ruth Worden inspired Brianna Labuskes to create Alice Monroe. From there, she followed where her imagination took her to bring readers an incredible, wonderful story. Don’t miss THE BOXCAR LIBRARIAN.