THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!THE USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything—everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome’s got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.
Cussy’s not only a book woman, however, she’s also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike … kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy’s family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble. If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, she’s going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and suspicion as deep as the holler.
Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere—even back home.
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This is the second novel I have read by Kim Michele Richardson, and she is a fabulous author. As I was reading about Cussy I had many questions as to what was fact and what was fiction, but they were all answered in the author’s notes at the end of the book. It gave me a look into what the lives of the Kentucky hill people were like, and the extra hardships of the “Blues.” This was a Goodreads giveaway win. I highly recommend this book to historical fiction fans!
It was fascinating…concerned the “blue people” of Kentucky. I have never read anything like it before.
It is very seldom that a book touches my heart, to the very core. I laugh and I cry at books but to touch my heart the way this book did requires a very special book. “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” is just such a book. I could not put it down even though at times it was so depressing and sad. Even the sadness in the book was so real and so true. Unfortunately, most of the events in the book were real and brought back memories I wish I could dispose of. I have a great love, affection and respect for the Applachian peoples. Their lives are so very hard but they find a reason to sing and dance and laugh every day. I can honestly say I wish it were possible to meet the characters in this book. They would show you what life is really about.
To the author of this amazing book, Kim Michele Richardson, thank you more times than I have words to express for writing this book. I hope you know the impact it has had. I just have one last question. Is this the only Book Woman story that will be told or are there more ahead.
An amazing read! I so enjoyed reading about the brave and dedicated packhorse librarians in Kentucky in 1930 and learning about the blue people in the area.
Fantastic read, couldn’t put it down! So informative about the blue people.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
As a fallen-away lover of historical fiction, I was thrilled to win a copy of the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek from bookreporter.com. My major purpose for reading has always been to take me to a place or time I could never go. This wonderful book did this in spades. Who knew about blue people? After the first page I googled the words and discovered the truth, although there is a very helpful history in the author’s notes at the end of the book. I read numerous books about the Depression, but none took place in the hills of Kentucky, which is a totally different world, Depression or not. This lovely story is the first person narrative of a blue woman, Cussy Mary, called Bluet or Book Woman. There is a comprehensive explanation of the roving librarians in the back of the book, with photos. Essentially, it was a project of Franklin’s WPA (Works Project Administration) which gave work to unemployed people during the Depression. Many people saw it as charity; many did not. The librarians had weekly routes into the back country, delivering books, periodicals, and newspapers (mostly old, used). Often this was the only contact these people had with anyone outside their homes/settlements.
Cussy Mary was, in short, colored. No different in the eyes of many people than the Negro. Neither was treated with respect and in many places in the south, including Kentucky, it was against the law to marry a colored person. Cussy Mary believed herself to be the last of the blue people and looked forward to a life alone. Her father was a coal miner, slowly dying from afflictions known to coal miners. Cussy Mary loved her job although it was difficult and dangerous, being miles from home in treacherous, untamed country. This is her story. It is often raw and violent, certainly will being a tear to the readers’ eyes as she tries to take her place in the world. Her clients loved her, very few caring about her color, but rather about her wares and her caring personality. This is a book to be cherished and reread. I recommend it to any lover of history.
I received a free copy of this book. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #bookreporter.com #thebookwomanoftroublesomecreek
This book is Historical Fiction. Excellent writing.And I learned about
The hard life of some things that happened the Depression in 1936.
When you first dive into reading this book you think skin color and books. I know what your thinking. This book is based on actual people who skin was blue and the Kentucky Pack Horse Library. Now Cussy love the name is a woman who skin in blue and is also a librarian for the Pack horse Library something that was developed and ran for 8 years during President’s Roosevelts time. Now she is trying to keep her job but also wanting to please her father by doing as he asks. What he does realize is that he is putting his daughter in danger. What I love about Cussy is that she loves to read to anyone who can’t read a written word and how she loves her job. To be able to do a job you are passionate about and help the people are 2 great things.
Subject is so interesting that in middle of book I went to research if it was true! Great read!
I loved it. Loved the coverage of The Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project. I covered love of a family, racism, and love of a community. Love the books and the hunger of books. Highly recommend.
This was such an amazing story that I fell in love with. I definitely recommend it!
Very interesting
Excellent book about the last known surviving blue person of Kentucky. I’d never heard of these people before and was fascinated by the whole story. The main character becomes a librarian for those in the hills and mountains of Kentucky who otherwise would not have access to books. She does this on her own on the back of a donkey. Very inspirational and full of great characters.
This was an incredibly original story with a main character that I had so many feelings for! I love when a book makes me go to the internet and research, “blue people” and “book women”, I had no idea that there was ever a project such as this. These women really had to love books to hand deliver them to people in the high hills of Kentucky.
My only problem with it was that it was very slowly paced. However when I thought further about it, perhaps it was written that way because that’s how Cussy Mary Carter’s life was. There was lots of hard work, little food, horrible living conditions and yet “Bluet” continued to love books. She was incredibly creative in making scrapbooks for her “clients” so that there would be more reading material for them. She added anything she could to her stash of books including any magazines, recipes from local people, pamphlets on infant care and treatment, etc.
This is a heartbreaker of a novel but one that should not be missed. I highly recommend it.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
This was a fascinating read and such an interesting story inspired by the true blue skinned people of Kentucky and also about the Pack Horse Librarians in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern Tennessee, which lasted from 1935 – 1943.
This was a program started by Roosevelt’s Work Progress Administration project that delivered books to remote regions in the Appalachian Mountains, where people had no chance of getting to a library.
The story mainly follows Cussy Mary Carter also known as Bluet, one of the few blue skinned people left in the mountains of Tennessee, she finds out she has congenital methemoglobinemia a condition that turns her skin blue due to a lack of oxygen in her blood.
Cussy loves her job as a pack horse librarian, where she is able to connect with so many people that would not otherwise be able to obtain reading material. She goes for miles distributing books, papers or magazines that her clients request, or sometimes she brings them something that she thinks they would be interested in. Because of her blue skin, she quite often has to deal with prejudice.
Cussy is a wonderful character and a very strong one. Her job brings her joy but also sadness as the people that she visits are very poor and sometimes even starving, but always so happy to see her.
This is a great book, so emotional and full of interesting characters.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this book.
Wow, what a learning experience while reading Cussy’s story. When a book teaches me something I enjoy it even more. I knew about Pack Horse Librarians but never thought about the dangers they faced daily or the extreme weather conditions they traveled through to reach their customers. Dedication at its best.
Cussy will find a way into your heart. It’s hard to imagine what she and other “blue” people experienced. Discrimination on all points is wrong no matter who you are.
There are a few semi-violent scenes but they add feeling to the story and show what was happening at the time. Faith is strong throughout the story. A book I would share with my older, mature teenagers. The perfect book for book clubs.
I received a complimentary copy from Sourcebooks through NetGalley. Any and all opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.
I won an e-copy of this book from BookishFirst. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.
This was an amazing book exploring the little known blue skinned people with congenital methemoglobinemia, who lived in remote Appalachian Kentucky during the Great Depression. Now thought to have immigrated from France and descendants of French Huguenots, they were considered “colored” only worse by the ignorant, and shunned so they were forced to intermarry. The author combines this with The Pack Horse Library Project, begun to provide jobs for women and reading material to the poor and isolated people of eastern Kentucky.
The fictional story is about nineteen year old Cussy Mary Carter, also known as Bluet, who lives with her father, a coal miner, who like many of the residents of the area are over worked and underpaid for very dangerous work leading to lung disease. Cussy, applies and gets a job as a librarian, where she is ridiculed and spurned by most of the townspeople of Trouble, Kentucky, but is held in high esteem by her patrons. Her father tried to marry her off, like he promised her mother he would, but she has no interest in these men, who are only after the deed to their property. After one disastrous marriage, her father lets her be, and she devotes and sacrifices herself to help the poverty stricken. But there is one man who sees beyond the color of her skin.
This was a beautifully written book. I highly recommend it.
Nineteen year old Cussy Mary Carter, a distinct young woman from the Appalachian hills of Kentucky, sets her goals on a distinctly different path than her Pa wishes her to take. Cussy Mary works for the Pack Horse Library Project, a program brought to life under President Roosevelt’s 1936 Works Progress Administration. She delivers books on the back of an ornery mule that helps her out of more than one tight spot. Her job, her books, and her patrons who call her “Book Woman” are the highlight of her difficult life.
If the harsh life, unforgiving land, deadly mines, and folks with no tolerance for anyone who is different don’t make life difficult enough for Cussy Mary, she and her family are Blues. To her father’s knowledge, Cussy Mary was the last of the Blues in their line still living. The Kentucky Blues had blue skin, which caused them to be shy around others due to the prejudice and discrimination they suffered. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the blue skin was a result of an inherited genetic defect.
An unwanted marriage, continual intolerance and abuse, as well as starvation and poverty work to pull at Cussy Mary’s optimistic attitude toward life. The strength and courage this young woman displays against the odds in her life is uplifting. Read this unique story of one young woman who fights with everything she has to overcome the hard times and heartbreak of her life in the Kentucky mountains. Excellent book for readers of historical fiction!
This ARC copy was received from Sourcebooks Landmark. The above thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.
Illustrates the strugglesof,someone who is “different” and the part the WPA played in making her life more bearable. After the end of the story read the author’s explanation of the truth behind the fiction. Excellent story.