Historical Fiction Book Review ~ The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Book #1) by Kim Michele Richardson @Sourcebooks

 

In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3eRm0d9
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57659137-the-book-woman-of-troublesome-creek

Publisher: ‎ Sourcebooks Landmark (May 7, 2019)
Paperback: ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 1492671525
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1492671527

My Review and Rating:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was an interesting book. I was unaware of a condition that make people blue. The lack of a specific enzyme, diaphorase, caused methemoglobinemia, turning white people blue. The original family came to Kentucky in the 1820s and stayed in a tight-knit community, away from the watchful eyes of those around them. The blue people of Kentucky were ridiculed, abused, and discriminated against.

I was enraged by the treatment of the people of color and the people with blue skin in the book. The author, however, depicted their unfair treatment well and as true as one can describe from information gleaned from primary and secondary research. People reject what is different or what they don’t understand, and people of color and white people with a blue tint to their skin were, unfortunately, no exceptions.

I found the history of the Pack Horse Librarians fascinating. Again, I knew nothing about this New Deal initiative to provide reading materials to those in rural Kentucky. What a wonderful project to make sure children and adults, alike, had reading material. Many families lived far away from libraries and obtaining books, magazines, Bibles, etc. was impossible. These Pack Horse Librarians brought joy and literacy to those who didn’t have access to such things before.

You can read more about the librarians at this link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/horse-riding-librarians-were-great-depression-bookmobiles-180963786/  

I borrowed this book from a family member.

View all my reviews