With no living relatives, 18-year-old Rowan Daly leaves the only home she's ever known to be with her beloved, Eli. They settle in the mining town of New Hope. In 1934 the best paying job is dynamiting rock in the pit-a job Eli volunteers to do with disastrous consequences. When he's killed, Rowan is alone and abandoned with no way to support herself. Rowan is recruited to be a Pack Horse Librarian and soon finds herself delivering books to hill families, facing her fears of abandonment, and learning about the unique rural folks she serves. It's just the beginning for Rowan-being a Pack Horse Librarian changes her future, giving her a life she could never have imagined.