The Giver of Stars

While Margery and Alice prepare to deliver books one morning, Margery shows Alice scars from when her father, Frank, beat her as a child. After her father beat her 14-year-old brother, Jack, he left home and later died on a train track. Her father beat her constantly, including dragging her up the stairs by her hair after knocking her out (she lost hair and still has a scar). The only people he was afraid of were his own parents (Papaw and Memaw); his mother whipped him with a horsewhip after the hair incident. When Alice admits that Mr. Van Cleve doesn’t think she should consort with Margery, Margery also explains that her father was a moonshiner who made enemies of everyone; the entire town hated him. After the things she endured with her father, Margery fears nothing.

A momentous day for the Pack Horse Library women arrives: They split up and handle separate routes. Alice is all nerves, and she overhears Mrs. Brady voicing her concerns about a foreigner delivering books. Alice practices her speech while on her way to the Blighs’ house. When she attempts to speak like a mountain person, however,