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.
Fans of historical fiction will fall in love with this bestselling novel’s:
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Excellent writing and superb character development. I even loved the mule, Junia, named for the lone female apostle.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is the story of a blue girl from Kentucky. (There truly was a blue family in Troublesome, Kentucky, and other blues have been identified in other places on occasion. Methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder, causes the blue-tinged skin.) Although fiction, this reads as non-fiction. The author’s description of the people and places in the backwoods of Kentucky plucks you from your seat and takes you there. Great read. Great writing. Great story.
Who should read? Find out more. Read full review at https://cyndiezahner.com/2021/07/15/the-book-woman-of-troublesome-creek-by-kim-michele-richarson/.
Great historical fiction!
I enjoyed the story based on history. The characters were interesting and full of courage.
I loved this book and recommended it to my book club. One woman in our group was born and raised in Kentucky and had never heard of the blue people. And, the pack-horse librarians were new to us, too. The characters felt “authentic” and you cared about them and wanted them to benefit from having books in their lives, even if they had little else.
Loved this book.
I honestly had forgotten about the blue people until I read this book. The struggles and racism they faced was horrible. Bluett persevered throughout however.
This novel about a book woman in Kentucky is much deeper and more convincing than Giver of Stars. Richardson is a good writer and tells a good story, but also knows her subject so well and has strong emotions about it–this was more than just writing a best-seller. Her deep feelings are shown in an interview when she describes her in-depth research: interviews, meetings with hematologists, doctors, firewatchers, studying WPA programs, living in Appalalchia. And there’s her personal experience too. She says, “I grew up under the grinding heels of poverty, spending my first decade in a rural Kentucky orphanage, moving on to foster care, and then finding myself homeless at age fourteen. I can relate to marginalized people and have much empathy for Cussy and her family anyone who has faced or faces prejudices and hardships.”
This was a very interesting book. I really enjoyed reading it.
A topic most people have never heard of- great conversation starter!
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Rating: 5 stars
Not very often do I come upon a book that I truly care so much about, as I do this one. The heroine Cussy Mary Carter is a poor, lonely, “colored” young woman who is a Packhorse Librarian which is part of Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. When I say colored, you might think brown, but in Cussy Mary and her family’s experience, it would be lovely to be a brown-skinned person. No, Cussy Mary and her family are Blues. They have a rare blood condition that causes them to have various shades of blue skin. Cussy Mary’s skin is a dark, deep indigo blue color. Her color is such that the local doctor who delivered her when she was born, nicknamed her “Bluet.” She doesn’t mind the name, doesn’t necessarily like it, but it’s better than other names she has been called.
Cussy Mary loves her job as a packhorse librarian, the women officials who work at the Library Center are prejudiced against her and most of the other women working there, doesn’t matter if you are brown, blue or simply just tall, they always have something snide to say to you or about you. Cussy Mary doesn’t have to be around them much, she spends most of her time delivering books and magazines to her library patrons and caring for her Pa who is also a Blue like herself. Her pa works in a Kentucky coal mine, where all of the coal dust makes one man look just like all the other miners. But it’s hard work and hard to keep body and home clean of all the coal dust.
The people in and around Troublesome Creek mostly tolerate Cussy Mary as their packhorse librarian, willing to accept almost anything to get the coveted reading materials. Cussy Mary tries to give everyone a smile, even when she doesn’t feel like it.
The book introduces you to some of Cussy Mary’s book patrons such as Henry, the adorable little boy who loves Peter Pan; Miss Loretta, who is mostly blind, who doesn’t read anything she’s given, but she enjoys the “Book Woman” reading to her from the Holy Bible; Devil John, a moonshiner who has specific requests from the “Book Woman”; Angeline Moffit, a sixteen-year-old bride; Jackson Lovett, a charming young man who has traveled and worked out West for a time but is now at home, working on his homeplace. Each is a very interesting person, making you fall in love with almost everyone in the book. You learn to love who Cussy Mary loves and cares about.
This book will possibly make you cry, you may want to read it repeatedly as I did during the three weeks that I had it checked out. I know now, that I must have a copy of this book for my very own. Highly recommend.
I have purchased my own copy of #thebookwomanoftroublesomecreek . It will have an important place on my Favorite’s shelves, for all of time.
what a wonderful story the discriptons of the country & people were breathtaking. The book was so full of information & real history written in such a way of capturing the mind’s eye. I loved this book even the hard to read parts. Cussie Mary had such a hard life & still she had great empathy towards all the others in her arena.
Book Woman of Troublesome Creek considers the blue people of Kentucky and the Pack Horse Library Project. Each of these is intriguing on it’s own, but by combining them, Richardson has added power to her story and that power weaves its way into our hearts.
The strength and courage of Bluet, the hardships she endures, the kindness and love she shares, the wisdom the has to deal with her “patrons” are all testimony to the endurance of the hill people. That they survive is a miracle, that Bluet’s books bring knowledge and comfort is a bonus they soon come to rely on.
This is a story that will stay with you for a long time.
Be sure to read the Author’s Afterward for more information and to see the pictures she shared of the librarians.
BLURB
In 1936, Bluet is the last of the Kentucky Blues. In the dusty Appalachian hills of Troublesome Creek, nineteen and blue-skinned, Bluet has used up her last chance for “respectability” and a marriage bed. Instead, she joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding up treacherous mountains on a mule to deliver books and other reading material to the poor hill communities of Eastern Kentucky.
Along her dangerous route, Bluet confronts many who are distrustful of her blue skin. Not everyone is so keen on Bluet’s family or the Library Project, and the impoverished Kentuckians are quick to blame a Blue for any trouble in their small town.
Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek provides an authentic Appalachian voice to a story of hope, heartbreak and raw courage and shows one woman’s strength, despite it all, to push beyond the dark woods of Troublesome Creek.
http://www.darlenejonesauthor.com
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson is historical fiction at its best. Meticulously researched, lives of the hill people of Kentucky during the Great Depression are honestly depicted. Characters are complex and believable. The plot unfolds as slowly as life in rural Appalachia. Hope for a better world shines through this novel where people deal with racism, poverty, hunger, discrimination, illiteracy and sorrow the best they can. Heart wrenching, thought provoking, and inspiring this is a book for all times.
I enjoyed reading this book so much!! It also motivated me to do some research and learn more about the people and history of the time.
An interesting take on race and racism in early 20th century Kentucky. I like that I gained new information about Roosevelt’s WPA and the impact of the pack-horse library project on poor rural families.
I like the main character and her ability to deal with adversity and with mean-spirited classist/racist neighbors as well as her loyalty to her ‘customers’.
Wonderful. Best book so far this year
Thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned a lot about culture back then in Kentucky.
Very inspiring story of packmule librarians, overwhelmingly women. Who brought culture to families in the hills of KY.
Very enlightening, yet depressing story. I’d never heard of the “blue people”. Reading about the lives of economically challenged people (of all races and colors) surviving after the Great Depression was troubling. Thinking of my grandparents’ lives in comparison makes me realize how blessed my family was.
The author concludes with notes and photos. Don’t pass this portion by.
I started this book and couldn’t put it down.