The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Seriously go out and GET this book! It’s Amazing! The story follows a young woman named Cussy who bravely became a Book Woman in the Kentucky mountains during the 1930’s. Her goal is to serve her patrons and community through loaning them books to educate them. However, there is an issue, Cussy is a Blue. Her skin is the color blue and is treated as such. Cussy, however, is brave, strong, and stubborn, she doesn’t let anything hold her back, including being forced to marry into a racist family, loosing friends, getting “medically tested”. She keeps on moving forward to serve. Her service pays off in a big way too! I can’t tell you about that since I don’t give spoilers. However, I promise you if you pick up this book you won’t want to put it down. It’s that GOOD! Happy reading my friends!
Book Summary:
The New York Times and USA Today bestseller!
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.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a powerful message about how the written word affects people–a story of hope and heartbreak, raw courage and strength splintered with poverty and oppression, and one woman’s chances beyond the darkly hollows. Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek showcases a bold and unique tale of the Packhorse Librarians in literary novels — a story of fierce strength and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere — even back home.
