WONDERLAND CREEK BY LYNN AUSTIN

WONDERLAND CREEK by LYNN AUSTIN takes place during the Depression in America.  Alice Ripley, a pastor's daughter who lives with her parents in a small town, is a librarian who lives her life vicariously through the characters in the novels she reads.  She is devastated when her boyfriend, Gordon, breaks up with her for reading a novel during a memorial service (he is the son of the undertaker and is following in his father's footsteps) and when she loses her job at the library due to cutbacks.  She feels her life is over, but has no idea what is in store for her when she leaves the safety of home and sets off for Acorn, Kentucky, to take books that she has collected to the library there for distribution to the people who live in isolated areas.
Although she is horrified at the conditions in Acorn, and her living conditions in the library are extremely primitive, she gradually comes to love the people she interacts with there and realizes that at last she is living her own life instead of living in the pages of the novels she reads.  She has one adventure after another, is exhausted and terrified a great deal of the time, has to learn to cook, plant a vegetable garden and ride a horse, amongst other things.  The intrigue and danger she encounters are such that she knows that no-one at home will believe that she is telling the truth about her life in Acorn when she gets back.  There is mystery, attempted murder, missing treasure and even romance with a charming fiddle player - all the ingredients she would expect to find in a really good novel, only this time she is living it instead of reading about it!
Through Lillie, the ancient black woman who has brought Mack up and now lives at the library with him, she learns what true Christianity is - a relationship with Jesus and not a list of rules to follow.  She comes to realize that when we are in the Lord's hands He leads and guides us according to the plans He has for our lives and we don't have to try and "fix" everything ourselves.  
She loves books, and is thrilled to be able to take books to people in outlying areas, some of whom can't even read.  What starts out as a "do good" operation of collecting books for the less fortunate, leads to adventure and a life lived to the full. She comes to see what is really important in life, and is ashamed of the self-centredness and self-pity she indulged in when her life, as she knew it, was over.      
The colourful characters she comes to know, including Lillie's horse Belle, all play a part in her growth as a person.  She feels responsible for Lillie, Mack and June Ann, and knows she cannot go home until the mystery of who shot Mack is resolved. 
The novel is well-written and exciting and the characters are well portrayed.  There is humour and love and a good Christian message.