The Keeper of Stars

Buck Turner’s 2023 novel The Keeper of Stars is a work of romantic historical fiction about Jack Bennett and Ellie Spencer, who meet and fall in love in the summer of 1950 when the two are still teenagers. Many years after circumstances pull the two apart, Jack sends Ellie a copy of a memoir he has written. Jack’s and Ellie’s lives have gone in different directions—and yet, reading Jack’s account of their relationship, Ellie realizes that she and Jack might still have a second chance at love. The novel uses Ellie and Jack’s relationship to explore the idea of destiny and consider how individual ambitions can interfere with romantic relationships. Turner is the author of eight romance novels, including The Long Road Back to You, which won a 2023 Writer’s Digest Award, and a sequel to The Keeper of Stars called A Thousand Distant Shores, which follows the romantic life of Sara, a minor character from The Keeper of Stars.

This guide refers to the 2023 Page & Vine paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, child death, mental illness, and substance use.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with a Prologue narrated in 2020 by Jack Bennett, the text’s primary protagonist. Jack is an older man reflecting on the events of his life just after putting his Tennessee home on the market in the wake of his wife Elizabeth “Ellie” Spencer’s death. The main narrative is told in the third person: It begins in 1950 in Sims Chapel, Tennessee, when Jack is a young man working for George Duncan’s ferry service and dreaming about saving enough money to buy a particular house, a large and expensive one up high on a hill in town. Jack lives with his mother, Helen, in a modest home, doing what he can to help her and dreaming about future business enterprises that he might launch to earn the money for his dream house.

Jack’s life changes one morning when he meets Ellie, a young woman visiting Sims Chapel for the summer. Jack is surprised to learn that Ellie is staying with her wealthy aunt Clara Sutton in the dream house on the hill that Jack has always admired. Jack tells Ellie that he will take her to search for arrowheads, but on the day they make their first attempt, a storm forces them to seek shelter in a shack until it passes. Jack learns that Ellie lives in Ohio with her well-to-do parents and is a freshman astronomy student at Indiana University. He is impressed by her ambition and relieved to find that she treats him with respect, rather than looking down on him because of his poverty and relative lack of education. Although Jack is busy with work and Ellie is busy being tutored in math at the behest of her controlling mother, Marie, the two young people begin spending time together regularly. Jack soon realizes that Ellie is smart, funny, and kind, and his feelings for her deepen.

On a trip to Parrott Island to look for arrowheads, Ellie shares with Jack that this kind of setting is where she always imagined getting married someday. She and Jack exchange mock wedding vows, and Jack kisses her for the first time. Both acknowledge they are falling in love. However, Ellie keeps their budding relationship a secret from her mother, confiding only in her sister, Amelia. Ellie’s math tutor, Sara Coffee, is one of Jack’s oldest friends, and she begins to display jealousy toward Ellie as her bond with Jack grows. 

As Jack and Ellie fall more deeply in love, it becomes clear that there are obstacles looming in their future. At dinner one evening, Helen asks Ellie about her plan to become an astronomy professor, and Jack realizes for the first time that Ellie has the next six years of her life planned out—and it might be hard for him to find a place in her ambitious dream. Jack’s own dream is to become an author and make enough money to provide for his mother and buy his dream house on the hill in Sims Chapel. 

Jack gets into a fight at a fireworks show with a young man who disrespects Ellie, and this further highlights the class divide between Ellie and Jack. When Clara points out that Ellie and Jack are from very different worlds, Ellie acknowledges that her parents would likely not approve of Jack. Once summer ends, Ellie plans to return home to continue her college career, so she begins to doubt whether her love for Jack can withstand the challenges of distance and differing ambitions.

As Ellie’s departure for college approaches, Jack gives her a bottle containing sand and pebbles from the beach where they met, a token of their love. They discuss ways to maintain their relationship long distance, but neither can compromise on relocating. Their last days together are filled with romance, culminating in their first sexual encounter. Jack decides to propose to Ellie, despite warnings from his mother and George about the challenges they might face. He spends his savings on an engagement ring, determined to secure their future together.

On the night Jack plans to propose, Ellie’s mother unexpectedly arrives in Sims Chapel, taking Ellie away abruptly. Ellie suspects Sara’s involvement but feels powerless to resist her mother’s demands. Ellie leaves Jack a note explaining the situation, and they continue their relationship long distance. However, when Jack is drafted to serve in the Korean War, the burden of missing him becomes too much for Ellie, and she decides to end the relationship. When Jack returns from Korea, he comes to see her at her college. He asks for another chance, but by then, Ellie is in a serious relationship with someone else. Jack angrily tells her that she has no idea how much she has hurt him, and they part on a sour note.

Twelve years later, Ellie is a successful astronomy professor in Bloomington, Indiana, and remains single. Jack, now an author, sends her a copy of his book, which includes chapters about their love story. Ellie realizes how deeply Jack cared for her and learns about his intended proposal. Her unresolved feelings for Jack resurface, and she resolves to reach out to him. Before she can, she learns of Clara’s death and returns to Sims Chapel with her family.

Soon after her arrival in Sims Chapel, Ellie runs into Jack. She learns that he now lives in his own house and runs a much-expanded version of the now-deceased George’s charter boat business. After the war, Jack spent some time in the West, where he met a woman and had a brief relationship with her, but he decided to come home to Sims Chapel. The woman did not want to move to Tennessee, so they broke up. Jack hides that he is romantically involved with Sara, who supported him through many challenges. Jack lies to Sara about his feelings for Ellie, and then, on a night when Sara is supposed to be away from home, he invites Ellie to come to dinner at his house. Despite having learned about Sara in the interim, Ellie agrees to the dinner invitation. After dinner, Jack confesses to Ellie that he has never stopped loving her and asks her to spend the night. Ellie tells him that because she loves him too, she cannot.

After Clara’s funeral, Jack and Ellie continue discussing their feelings for one another, and Ellie tells Jack that Clara has left him her house. When Jack casually mentions Sara’s interference in 1950, Ellie realizes that Sara had informed Marie about Jack and Ellie’s relationship, leading to Ellie’s abrupt departure. Furious, Ellie confronts her mother and announces that she does not want to speak to her again. Ellie spends the night with Jack, reigniting their romance. The next day, Jack ends his relationship with Sara. 

Jack and Ellie’s renewed relationship is nearly derailed once again when Ellie is offered a job with NASA in Houston. Even though Jack refuses to move to Houston, Ellie accepts the job. However, advice from her assistant, Zora Wheaton, and a reconciliation with her mother prompt Ellie to reconsider. On the day Ellie is supposed to leave for Houston, she calls to say that she is not coming. Jack shows up at her place to say that he will come with her, after all, and she tells him that she is staying in Bloomington. 

They marry on Parrott Island and spend each school year in Indiana and each summer in Tennessee, having a daughter and one granddaughter over the years. Eventually, Ellie is recruited for a part-time job at NASA that she can combine with her life in Bloomington. When she eventually retires, she is a highly regarded professor and astronomer. Ellie dies in 2020, and Jack resumes narrating as he returns to Parrott Island to scatter Ellie’s ashes and reflect on their wonderful life together.