The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Read this wonderful story of the determination of a young girl and the hope that books can bring to one’s life.

A totally absorbing story of a “blue woman,” Cussy Mary delivers reading material by mule to the back hills people in the hollers of Kentucky in the 1930s.

Also called Bluet, Cussy Mary is shunned by her community because of her blue genetic coloring. Those on her delivery route, however, love her because she brings them reading materials, reads to them and even leaves precious food anonymously.

The story is written in the country vernacular of the “Book Woman,” which may take some getting used to for those out of that realm, but is convincing for the story.

Bluet suffers the many indignities of prejudice for being “colored,” along with the striking poverty of the time. She fears that love will never find her. Sometimes though, life brings you gifts when you least expect them.

This touching and heart-breaking novel of Appalachia during the Roosevelt administration was a one-sitting, “don’t bother me I’m reading” experience. The protagonist, Cussy Mary Carter, is a Pack Horse Librarian, bringing literature to the people who live in the “hollers” of Kentucky, far from towns, doctors, and any other communal support. Although they are starved for food, the librarians bring them food for their minds.

Cussy is a “blue”, suffering from congenital methemoglobinemia, “colored” and therefore anathema to the white community. Despite their hatred and intolerance, Cussy and her father make a home and a life in their community.

This is a fascinating book. I highly recommend it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh my, my, this is a sweet gem of a story. The writing is excellent, the storyline is great, the delivery could not have been done any better and the depiction of life in rural Kentucky was spot on. When I wasn’t reading, I was researching the WPA, the horse delivery library system and the blues. This is right up there with one of the best books I’ve read this year. I so enjoy a book that grabs my interest and never let’s go, this one met that criteria. I came to care so much for Cussy (Bluet) and Junia, what a kind, thoughtful, courageous woman with her trusty mule.
I will not cover the description of what this book is about, but I will say it does a wonderful job of describing the hard times in Kentucky in the 1930’s, how the horse librarians delivered books on their routes, the life of a coal miner, ramifications of forming a union and especially how hard it is to live with being different in an unforgiving environment. The writing was so descriptive you could picture the trails, the places and the people. There were several specific scenes during this book that just wowed me, one included Jackson, the other was Cussy’s trip to town, I’m sure you’ll realize when you find them.
I highly recommend this book, if you love historical fiction about actual true events this is a read you will truly enjoy.
This one gets high 5*****’s. I was given an advanced copy from Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for my honest review.

Set in the Appalachian mountains in 1936, Cussy is loving her job as a Pack Horse Librarian delivering books to patrons excited to see her... and the books she brings with her.

"I lived for the joy of bringing books and reading materials to the hillfolk who were desperate for my visits, the printed word that brought a hopeful world into their dreary lives and dark hollers."

Her father, Elijah, however, is determined to marry her off. Suitors arrive, and suitors leave, because Cussy is ... get this… BLUE. No, this is not a science-fiction novel. Instead, the story is based on the very real, very rare "Blue People of Kentucky" who suffer from a hereditary condition called methemoglobinemia.

I've seen photos and read articles about the Pack Horse librarians so it was fun to read an entire book about them. Cussy's experiences as both a librarian and a blue woman were both thought provoking and heartbreaking, and I teared up a bit near the end. I admired her resiliency, strength, and determination to continue serving her beloved patrons despite the many adversities, such as prejudice, hunger, poverty, and the physicality of her job.

According to the author's note at the end of the book, the Pack Horse program was initiated during Roosevelt's New Deal. From 1935-1943, 1000 women (and a few men) served 600,000 residents in eastern Kentucky.

Location: Troublesome Creek, Kentucky

I received an advance copy of this book from BookishFirst. All opinions are my own.

The first thing you notice when you start reading this book is the voice. Ms. Richardson tells the story through the voice of Bluet, a somewhat educated young woman in the hills of Kentucky. This immediately draws the reader into the story and location. Bluet herself is a unique and wonderful woman, a member of a small group of "colored" people, blue colored people. Seeing the discrimination against her and her family provides another dimension to how American has continued to treat African Americans and other minorities. Additionally, Bluet is a strong independent woman trying to improve the world around her, despite what society expects from her and the abject poverty around her. The story was a motivational and positive look at how individuals can make a difference in the world around them!

A tribute to a person and an idea. This one so clearly expresses how important books are to some of us and is a must read for every book lover. Read it when you are ready to go on an emotional ride, though. I'm not sure I was in the right mind space for it. I wasn't ready. So it threw me around a little more than I would have liked. The beautiful Appalachians of the past are so wonderfully represented that I want to go back.

Tengo que decir que no estaba lista para este relato. Cuando lo solicité en Netgalley pensé que sería una historia linda con temática de libros pero fue mucho más que eso fue una novela que también me rompíó el corazón y me hizo enfurecer en varias ocasiones.

No conocía la historia en la esta novela está basada, gente azul en Kentucky en una época en la que ser cualquier otro color aparte de blanco significaba que eras de lo más bajo.. La protagonista, Cussy Mary es de las últimas de esta gente azul y trabaja en un proyecto nacional que lleva libros a los lugares más remotos de EUA. Es una chica de 19 años inteligente y resistente que termina casada brevemente con un bruto de hombre y las cosas no mejoran mucho desafortunadamente.

Una de las cosas que más me gustaron de la novela fue la importancia que se le da a la lectura. El proyecto Pack Horse le daba trabajo a mujeres y a algunos hombres que no encontraban trabajo durante la depresión. Iban en mulas cargando con sus libros y prestándolos a quien los quisiera. Y pudimos ver a muchas familias recibiendo el préstamo con entusiasmo, Cussy realmente les alegraba el día. Eso fue hermoso de leer pero hubo tantos momentos de tristeza. No fue una buena época en la historia del país y había mucha gente muriendo de hambre, estas partes fueron terribles y la escritura de la autora te hacía sentir cada espantoso detalle.

A pesar de no ser lo que esperaba, la historia me sorprendió y la disfruté. Es realmente una lectura recomendable.

Book Court - Where I'm the Judge and Jury

CHARGE (What was the author trying to say?): “to humanize and bring understanding to the gracious blue-skinned people of Kentucky, to pay tribute to the fearsome Pack Horse Librarians, and to write a human story set in a unique landscape.”

FACTS: I learned a lot by reading this book. Methemoglobinemia is an extremely rare disease that causes skin to be blue. The disease was first discovered n a family in Kentucky. This historical novel traces one such family in the hills of Kentucky. These blue-skinned people were considered “colored” and bore the same discrimination waged against blacks in the 1930’s. The story also chronicles “Book Women” who traveled by horse, foot, and rowboat to deliver reading material and teach reading in the most remote areas of the state. The book is a fascinating read about little-known facts and customs.

VERDICT (Was the author successful?): Guilty, as charged. A wonderful story. I was sorry when it ended.

#NetGalley #TheBookWomanofTroublesomeCreek

I love reading book or anything really and have since the book mobile would come to my school starting when I was in 2nd grade. It was the best thing a shy quiet abnormal child could ask for. Reading about Bluet traveling far and wide to deliver books makes her a hero to me. I had no idea there were blue people in Kentucky but I know from experience the negative reactions of people who do bad thing because they are afraid of the things they don't understand. Bluet was very brave even if she didn't know it at times. Fitting in is all some people want and it hurts when we are rejected for one reason or another. I truly enjoyed The book woman of troublesome Creek and hope to read more by this author.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Five stars!!

Nicknamed Bluet due to her blue skin, Cussy Mary has been an outcast her whole life. Deep in Kentucky, Blue skinned people are looked down upon as tainted, unholy, second class citizens. Now 19, her coal mining father wants nothing more for her than to settle down with a husband and have a family like a decent woman should but she has found her place - as a Book Woman, riding the trails delivering books to the Hill folk, who can't or won't get an education otherwise. Through the books and magazines she delivers she is making a difference in the lives of her patrons, and they are making a difference in hers, giving her a sense of pride an income, and a community. But not everyone is accepting of her as a Blue, and she is increasingly more threatened by the local Preacher, who is determined to "save" her.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek hooked me at the description--the pack mule librarians of Kentucky during the Great Depression! Particularly since I'm a librarian and I have ridden a mule, I looked forward to an interesting story.However, once I started reading this book was so much more. Author Kim Michelle Richardson completed extensive research into the pack mule librarians in order to provide details on this important service. She also incorporated historical facts and details regarding a specific group of individuals in Kentucky who are referred to as the "blue people." The combination of these two fact-based accounts into a new fiction book provided a marvelous books I couldn't put down.

Beyond a story that draws the reader in, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a haunting read in numerous ways. I found it a good reminder of just how much our world has changed in the almost 90 years since this story took place--particularly so as my grandparents lived the Depression and I grew up hearing stories about this time period. As a librarian by trade, the reminder of how much my profession has changed and how literacy has increased made me very grateful for easy access to printed materials. Richardson also shows how racism and prejudice impacted this area of the country and this specific people group at that time. This book is highly recommended! I also look forward to exploring other books by this author.

This book is one of the reasons I love historical fiction so much. It's based on the WPA Pack Horse Library Project and the Kentucky Blue People. It is set in the 1930s and is in a very depressed area of Kentucky. I learned so much reading this book about the people, this program and how bad racial division was in that time.

This is the story of Cussy Mary Carter who is a Pack Horse Librarian and also a blue skinned woman. She travels through the back woods of Kentucky to the remote poverty areas and to people who basically have nothing. On top of that, because she's blue skinned, she's looked down upon as inferior and racially unequal. I love the story of Bluet...what the people on her pack horse route call her. She is so kind hearted and has so much compassion. They love her. She loved bringing the written word to the poor who would otherwise never have books, magazines or anything written to read. She is connected to the families and cares about them very much. Her side kick is an aging mule named Junia. She is cantankerous and also very perceptive. She trusts only Bluet. She protects her. I fell in love with this mule. There were many passages that I felt anxious for them both but together they accomplish their goal of delivering the books and reading materials to the people.

This story is written in the dialect and language of the Kentucky back woods people. It gave the book even more elements of authenticity about the subject and how much these people didn't have. It's a coal mining community and the poorest of the poor worked in the mines. I was taken into these back woods and hollers with Bluet and found myself loving the families and people she cared so much for. There were other characters in the book that were not likable but they also brought the reality of how coloreds and blues were actually treated...as inferior human beings. It was a trying time back then for them.

This passage spoke about that:
"Nary a townsfolk, not one God-fearing soul, had welcomed me or mine into town, their churches, or homes in all my nineteen years on this earth. Instead, every hard Kentucky second they'd filled us with an emptiness from their hate and scorn. It was as if Blues weren't allowed to breathe the very same air their loving God had given them, not worthy of the tiniest spoonful He'd given to the smallest forest critter. I was nothing in their world. A nothingness to them."

I was in this book totally and completely. I couldn't put it down. Ms. Richardson writes so that I was in the Kentucky hollers, in the dilapidated cabins, with the starving and hungry families. I was on the remote trails with Bluet and hearing the wilderness sounds and smelling the smells. I had strong feelings all over the emotional map. It was a total immersion of an experience in the lives of the characters and "living" in the pages in this book.

This book is up there with one of my best reads so far this year.

I want to thank Bookish and Ms. Richardson for the amazing opportunity to read this book! It's been a journey that I will cherish and remember for a very long time.

I would love to give it way more than 5 stars! It's a must read in my opinion.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was inspired by the true story of the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Service that was part of the WPA in the late 1930s. It is also a story of the blue-skinned people of Kentucky who were affected by a rare genetic condition. Solely because of their skin color, Blues were the object of scorn and discrimination and often blamed for almost any misfortune.

Gentle Cussy Mary, a nineteen-year-old, is one of the pack horse librarians. She is nicknamed Bluet because of her blue skin but, more often, Book Woman, by her clients. She loves her job and she loves the people she serves. Riding her faithful and protective mule, Junia, Cussy visits a variety of people each week, carefully choosing reading material she thinks they will enjoy. There are a variety of people in Cussy’s life, including her Pa, a coal miner suffering from Black Lung disease, Queenie, a single Black mother who dreams of going to library school, the doctor who is fascinated by Cussy’s blue skin, and the school children who look forward to her visits as well as her books.

This is a wonderful book. It made me cry. It made me happy. But, most of all, I found it to be an inspiring story of the human spirit, a testament to the love of books and reading, and the story of one woman’s courage and determination to persevere, despite the obstacles she faced.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a strong story that will remain with the reader long after the last chapter is read. I highly recommend this book and I would give it more than 5 stars if I could.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review

Books like The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek are why I love to read! They take you to times and places you may not be able to visit otherwise, teaching you things, and holding you spell-bound, losing track of anything but the story in your hands.

This book takes you deep into Appalachia, specifically the mountains of Kentucky, in 1936. Cussy Carter, 19, a coal-miner’s daughter, is honored to be serving as a member of the Pack Horse Library Project, taking reading materials to the mountain folks in remote areas. Though the job demands long hours and danger can be found in any number of ways on her solo rides to her patrons, Cussy is thrilled to be able to share her love of reading with others. Her father, on the other hand, would much prefer she be married and settled, as he promised his late wife. Coal miners know that each day spent underground may well be their last day on earth, and he wants to know that she will be cared for. Finding a suitable husband is difficult though as Cussy is one of the last of her kind, the blue people. The blue people of Kentucky (who look blue as a result of a genetic condition which prevents their blood from carrying sufficient oxygen) face strong prejudice born out of fear from the white population. Many refused to even look at Cussy, or let her touch them, fearing they would “catch something” or the devil would enter them. Finding someone willing to marry a blue, and not related, is difficult indeed. While her father pushes her to marry, she is just as determined to remain single as the rules of the program currently prohibit married women from serving as Book Women.

Ms. Richardson writes in a richly descriptive way that enables readers to place themselves in the scenes; and her characters are just as realistic. I found myself carried away with the events and wide range of emotions experienced by Cussy.

This rates 5 stars from me, and I so hope you add it to your to-be-read list!!

Note: The Pack Horse Library Project was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935 as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to take books, magazines and other reading materials to people in remote areas of Kentucky. During its existence (1935 – 1943), over a thousand women served as Book Women and they serviced over 600,000 people in 30 eastern Kentucky counties.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read an ARC of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I would also like to thank all teachers, librarians, and any one else who fosters a love of reading!!

It was so interesting to read this story. I never had heard of the "blue" people. My husband spent some time on Kentucky and he heard about them.
I loved Cussy. She had a great spirit even when people looked down on her because of her condition.
I really liked the Pack Horse program. It was a great idea to get books out to people that would otherwise not be able to read books. I really didn't seem to like much of the patrons Cussy had until they started coming around and really looking out for Cussy .
I also had to research the courting candle. Something else I had never heard of and I thought that was an interesting way to get one of your children married.
I felt so bad for Cussy and Jackson at the end but I love that they found a way to get around what happened.

I really enjoyed this beautifully scenic, heartbreaking read. I love a hist fic that teaches me something about the world that I know little about and this one does just that with the main character, Cussy Mary, who has a rare condition in which her skin appears blue and the Pack Horse Library Project, essentially a library on wheels...or pack mule. The setting in the deep hills of Kentucky in the 1930s is a fascinating setting to read about and it's filled with some very interesting people and a wonderful companion, Cussy's protective and fearless mule!

This book has been getting a lot of buzz with my bookish friends and for good reason. The writing is strong but it's Cussy who really steals the show. She's a young, strong character who perseveres in the toughest of times and I just wanted to reach out and let her know people do care about her. The scene setting was very nicely done. For someone who will probably never get deep inside those Kentucky hills, I love exploring a place through the eyes of someone who has and it seems Kim Michele Richardson has been in those hills.

I think this one would make a great book club read as there is so much to discuss. I read it alone and would have loved to have discussed events and characters with other readers.

Richardson has written a terrific book about two fascinating topics: blue skinned people and the pack animal library service of the New Deal. I had never heard of KY blue skinned people so I found the author's endnote very informative. What I liked most about the story was the joy the Book Women brought to the impoverished areas of Appalachia by delivering reading material to people who were hungry for knowledge as well as food.

This book has a very scary beginning and if you are hoping for happiness then this is not the story for you. But if you like stories that are intrinsically American, with the good and the bad of the time, then you are gonna love this because how many times do we get to read about the Blue People of Kentucky? Be warned, this is a hard book to read when you realize how many of the rights we woman have now that Bluet cannot even dream of and how hard and sadly not different enough the times where back then but it's a book that will definitely make you feel something.

Cussy Mary Carter lives with her Pa in the mountains of Kentucky away from the prejudice of the townspeople who shun her for the color of her skin. Cussy's family line is carriers of a rare gene which cause the skin to appear blue (congenital methemoglobinemia). She finds her calling working as a traveling librarian, part of the Pack Horse Library Project, delivering books to the poorest mountain patrons and sharing her love of reading. This novel is a heartwarming look at the hill people of Kentucky who, struggling with poverty and fighting to survive, find an escape when a young woman shares her love of books. As the beloved book woman, Cussy Mary soon discovers that she is more than just the color of her skin to her patrons.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a historical fiction novel set in 1930's Kentucky and tells the story of a young woman trying to find a place in her world. I really enjoyed this novel and the historical elements that were tied to the storyline. There are some disturbing elements that may bother some readers but I felt that they were relevant to the time period, setting, and plot. I loved many of the characters in this novel and found many of the hill people to be endearing in their customs and way of life. As a book lover, I could relate to getting lost in reading as it allowed the people to have a reprieve from their hardships. Definitely one of my favorite reads this year.

A HIGH 4 star read for me.. I enjoyed this story so much!

The Pack Horse Library Project was established in 1935 by President Roosevelt’s Work Progress Administration... an effort to bring jobs to women and bring books and reading material to the poor and isolated areas of Appalachia, where there were few schools and inaccessible roads.

Cussy Mary was one of these women who had a route.. she was 19 yrs old, a coal miner’s daughter, who’s father was trying to marry her off, because he had the bad lung from mining, and wanted her to have someone to care for her.
Cussy didn’t want that because she loved being The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek, Kentucky... and she earned her own wages from doing that. She was also so good hearted and tried to help the people on her route.

Also, she and her Pa were “blue” people. Lots of people nicknamed her Bluet, for that reason.
I’d never heard about these Blue People of Kentucky...they were considered “colored” people and were treated horribly just like the blacks.

I learned new things in history from this beautiful book, and myself, being the granddaughter of a West Virginia coal miner.. extra interesting!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC!