The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek By Kim Michele Richardson 5 Stars The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a spectacular work of historical fiction. I selected this book as a challenge book for my book club (Facebook - Ravenous Readers) and I am so glad that I did. I was quickly hooked into this story. The historical accuracy was on point and the few things that were slightly off for the sake of the story were addressed in the Author’s Notes at the end of the book. Side Note - there are also discussion questions and photos in the back of the book making this an excellent choice for a Book Club! The author, Kim Michele Richardson, does an amazing job telling this story. She will quickly reel you in to this captivating tale. The story is about the Pack Horse Librarians - specifically, a fictional character named Cussy Mary Carter whom is also called by the locals - Bluet. Cussy’s story is heart wrenching in so many ways… she has an enzyme disorder that causes her skin to appear blue. (This is a real medical issue that is very rare but was a bit common in the Kentucky hills and hollows tracing back to an immigrant from France.) Because Cussy is Blue she endures harsh racism all while traveling on a mule to deliver books to the people in the deep hills and hollows of Kaintuck (Kentucky) as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal to pull America out of The Great Depression. While reading this book you’ll travel along side of her and meet her patrons and witness the harshness of her life. I don’t wanna spill the beans but be ready to be emotionally challenged and awoken to a very different culture and lifestyle than you are used to. Be ready to cry tears of anger, frustration, heartbreak, but also tears of happiness and pride. This book will move you, I have no doubt! And may I add… Cussy may just be my new favorite heroine! There are some trigger warnings that should be checked out before reading, but I really think this book, it’s story, is worth pushing past those of you can.

This book is about dear Cussy Mary Carter, also known as “Bluet”, living in 1936 during the Great Depression, as a Troublesome Creek, Kentucky resident. The author starts the book out by introducing us to nineteen year old Cussy pleading with her Pa, Mr. Elijah Carter, to remain one of the Pack Horse Librarians. Cussy had obtained the job last summer after picking up the application from the post office and mailing it directly to the Pack Horse Libraries’ manager in Frankfort. The job paid her $28 a month. As a coal miner, Elijah along with many of his coworkers, developed a terrible cough and lung disease. He fears his years are coming to an end, and with Cussy’s mother gone, he wishes to ensure he sees his only daughter married off and taken care of before he passes. There is only one issue…Cussy is a “Blue”, a real life blue person. She and her Pa suffer from a genetic disorder called “methemoglobinemia”. This condition is where there is elevated methemoglobin in the blood, which makes it less oxygenated, and causes “cyanosis”, blue colored skin, due to chocolate colored blood. Due to this, she is considered “colored” and unwelcomed in various parts of town, such as common places like church; she is called names, frowned upon, and treated as if she is disease infested. Troublesome Creek citizens are afraid to get near her or any “blues”, fearful that if they touch their skin they will become ill. So getting a suitor, someone to accept her for who she is, is difficult to say the least. On top of that, Cussy does not want to get married. Getting married means she will lose her job as a Pack Horse Librarian, because you must be single in order to have the job. The Pack Horse Librarians were a group of more than one thousand women (and a handful of men) that delivered books to more than 600,000 eastern Kentucky residents. They traveled by whatever means necessary (horse, mule, boat, foot) over incredibly rough terrain, to the remotest areas, some over a hundred miles a week in treacherous weather conditions at times, to ensure their patrons had their weekly reading material. Cussy and her beloved mule Junia, encounter many obstacles. Oh how I LOVE Junia! One day on their route, the incredibly intuitive Junia, halts in her tracks, seeing a rattlesnake in the path ahead. Junia teaches us so much in this story. She may just be a “mule” but she is an animal that that has been through so much heartache and one that becomes incredibly devoted to Cussy in every way. I fell in love with Junia’s character and her dedication to Bluet and her book route. She is Cussy’s best friend, and one of the few that she has. This book will remind you of your animal’s loyalty and just how much love our furry friends bestow upon us. Another topic that is the focus of this gem of a book is poverty. Based on the Great Depression, there are multiple characters that are not privileged to eat every day. Along Cussy’s route, we meet some of these characters and fall in love them. They are completely blind to the fact that Cussy is “blue”. They see her who for who she is, another human being, bringing joy to their lives by bringing books; information from around the world, new information to help them escape their everyday lives, to help them maybe forget for a few moments the hunger striking them in their bellies. The hunger of not eating for days at a time. One of these beloved characters is Henry, a school kid on Cussy’s route. Cussy grows a fondness for Henry. We see just how high of a level of gratitude Henry has for Cussy when he gives her his most prized possession, a pineapple Life Saver. Henry has not eaten for days, but he is so appreciative of the work “the book woman” does, that he gives her the only thing he has to eat. This historical fiction work of art does not disappoint. I was clueless that “blue people” even existed. Kim Richardson did so much research and provided an incredible amount of history for the reader. I am in awe of this story, and grateful for the amount of American history I have learned that I never knew about. You will fall in love with the characters in this book. They will stick with you. I will forever be humbled and grateful for the multitudes of books I have access to at my fingertips. These folks were grateful to even have the same reading material delivered over and over if there was nothing new for them to read. Man, do we take things for GRANTED! If you are having a bad day after reading this book, think about Cussy Mary Carter, Henry or Henry’s mom, or the countless people who everyday went not knowing when or if they would receive another meal. It can always be WORSE!

Though it was depressing in places I felt the characters in the history was excellent. It surprised me in many places.

I felt so many different emotions reading this book. Learning about the people, their struggles, their resilience, their hard work, their loyalty and their love was eye-ope ing. I would recommend this book to everyone.

This book falls under the category of books that make you think. It’s the story of Cussy Mary Carter, or Bluet, as she’s called, a young woman who lives in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Bluet is special, or different, because her skin is blue, as is her father’s. She’s one of the blue people, or as far as she knows, the last of the blue people. Initially, we don’t know why her skin is the way it is, but what we do know is that Blues are discriminated against just like Blacks, as they are all considered coloreds, but the lot of the blue people is even worse because their color is considered unnatural. The story is set in the 1930’s during the Depression, a historically difficult time, even more so in an extremely rural, small town, in the Appalachians. All of the prejudice, discrimination, brutality and economic hardship of that period are exacerbated in this setting. Bluet is a Book Woman, she works for the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, carrying books on her mule to her patrons in remote areas. Her father works in the mines. Theirs is a brutal story of hardship and hunger, of humiliation and helplessness, but also of strength, and pride, and love. And most of all the story revolves around her love of reading and books. The importance of reading and books and of education, to counteract the loneliness and despair of a harsh life. It was hard to understand at first, it’s such a different world from the one we know and understand, it took me a while to really get into it. Maybe because it’s not overly descriptive, but at the same time as you get into it you really get a sense of the setting, the landscape, the difficulties in every day things, the true sense of not having resources, of not being able to meet basic needs, of watching people you love and care for starve to death or discriminate against you. She is such a kind soul, blaming herself for things she has no control over, like the color of her skin, like her inability to help others when she can barely help herself. But she doesn’t give up. She both submits to her lot in life and fights it tooth and nail, and it’s heart wrenching, but also incredibly touching and you can’t but root for her. I loved this character, even though I’m sure I couldn’t fully understand her struggle, not from my privileged position, of being born in a different time, of being white, of having means and an education, and a freedom that at the time wasn’t possible for women, but I certainly empathized, I took her to heart, and I cheered her on wholeheartedly. The book touches on many themes, important themes, almost too many to count and yet none of it is trivialized: racism, prejudice, discrimination, gender inequality, hunger, education, poverty, love, sacrifice, friendship, the highs and lows of human nature. I could go on. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I won’t talk about the plot, but it’s worth it. It took me a good third to get really into it, I kept getting exasperated at her for doing things a certain way, or for giving in, until I realized that I simply couldn’t read it from my own point of view, because I had never lived that way, I knew nothing of that reality, and my having an opinion about it was pure arrogance. It’s not an easy read, it’s not light or funny, although there are a few moments that are funny and sweet, but mostly I cried. It’s a touching book and not one I’ll soon forget. There’s a sequel, I might need a minute to gather myself before I delve into it, but I will.

This is my favorite kind of book - historical fiction. I love the story, and learning the history of the people and the area of that time and place was just the best. This was an incredible story. It was well-written, and I couldn’t put it down.

One might think I have a lot of chutzpah giving a book like Book Woman a rating of 4, but hear me out. There are not many writers whose prose I would label “lyrical,” but Richardson’s is certainly that. Her portrait of poverty-stricken, Depression-era Appalachian Kentucky is as lovingly crafted as it is starkly horrific. And no one could fault the depth of Richardson’s research nor her fidelity to all the virtues and flaws of the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project. To read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is to learn anew a story I thought I knew all too well; I have not felt this immersed in the time and culture in which my own father was raised since I read David Baldacci’s Wish You Well. Book Woman’s problem is the same one that plagues Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series: an over-abundance of research that the author insists on using anyway. In Auel’s case, it is page upon page of trees, trees, trees, trees, TREES – deciduous, evergreen, conifers, larches, ad nauseam. Auel has researched the types of trees that grew just after the last ice age and, by gum, she is gonna tell you what they were, regardless of the fact the reader is desperate to know the fate of Ayla and Jondalar. To paraphrase one of Jane Austen’s critics, it pushes Auel’s covers too far apart. In Richardson’s case, the author’s research on the perils with which the Book Woman’s route was often fraught leads her to insert characters and details that either never develop fully or are left mostly unresolved, or both. In short, Richardson seems to lack the ability, at least in this story (this is my first read of one of Richardson’s works), to plot. And in a novel, no one cares how accurate or voluminous an author’s details are as long as character development and plot resolution are satisfying. For instance (at the risk of revealing a spoiler), how is the purpose of plot served by burying a man on the Book Woman’s property if it was never to be discovered? Why haunt the main character with fears of being attacked but never bring them to fruition? There is a pervasive anticlimactic feel throughout, and the end is no better. In fact, the ending of Book Woman seems rushed and unrehearsed, as if Richardson said to herself, “Well, that’s about all the research I have on this subject. Guess it’s time for this story to be over.” It just seems to me that Richardson needed to make a choice: portray the circumstances of daily life in that time and in that profession in a linear, factual manner, never enduing them with a real plot (as daily life is, mostly, plotless) or real, individual people. OR write a story with characters that have depth of feeling, motivation, and aspirations who encounter good guys and bad guys and terrible situations that can go one way or another, depending on the actions of the heroine and her entourage, and RESOLVE it so that the reader knows that every possible good outcome was achieved and those that were not were so through no fault or inaction on the heroine’s part. Perhaps it was never Richardson’s intention to have her story line follow “The Hero’s Journey.” Because, even though there is a happy ending of sorts in Book Woman, there were so many story threads that could have been developed further and resolved much more happily. To mercilessly kill off a whole family of children (yes, I know it was the Depression that was merciless) when Book Woman could have ridden her mule to the doctor, she could have solicited donations of food from other patrons on her route instead of the gut punch it was to the reader to end things as she did. My point is that Richardson does paint an accurate portrait of her character’s times and terrain, juts not psychologically well enough that the reader is not left thinking that Book Woman could easily have gone in a different direction and been a documentary or history. In one sense it would have been infinitely better for Book Woman to have been a work of non-fiction: I had no idea that the group of people described by Richardson existed, so I spent most of the book thinking Richardson was doing a grave disservice to black people. It isn’t until one reads Richardson’s Afterword that one discovers that the strange people in Book Woman actually did (do?) exist and were not part of some twisted fantasy race created by the author. By all means, read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek if you have not already. It is both a lovely and an important work. Just do not expect it to be the best novel you’ve ever read.

Well wrote! One becomes engulfed in the life of Cussy Mary. Once you start this book , you can’t put it down till the end.

Wow. I knew so little of Kentucky and so little of the people in this isolated portion of the world. I learnt so much and felt deeply saddened and angry for most. But at the end I also felt so very hopeful What a wonderful book. I couldn’t put it down ❤️

ローズベルト大統領は導入した Kentucky Pack Horse Library Projectは、アパラチア山脈の極貧の人々に本と希望を与えた。主人公のCussy Mary Carterは「肌が青い」ためBluetと呼ばれ、ひどい差別を受けているが、人間としてのやさしさを失うことなく、この制度の下で本を人々に届けるbook womanの仕事を与えられ、賃金を得る。しかし、炭鉱夫の彼女の父は、過酷な職場で珪肺病にかかっているだけでなく、秘密の組合活動が会社に見つかれば殺されてしまうことを恐れ、Cussyの将来を守ろうと無理矢理に結婚させようとする。 一方、医師としてCussyに興味を持って調査をしたDoc は、彼女の症状はヘモグロビンに異常を起こす非常に稀な遺伝病で、療法もあることを発見し、差別する人々にその事実を告げる。にもかかわらず、黒人と同じcoloredとしてひどい差別が変わらないことに、ほんとうにびっくりした。しかし、原因は異なるがハンセン病患者に対するひどい差別を考えれば、恐怖を根底とする偏見が人間を残酷にすることを改めて理解したと感じる。 歴史小説と紹介されていたのに、史実に基づいた話であることがピンとこないで、途中でウィキペディアを調べたりした。Cussyが大変不幸になるのではとハラハラしながら読んだ。そこまではいかなかい結末で、これを甘いと考える人もいるかもしれないが、私はほっとした。これは1巻目で、2巻目は同じくBlueでCussyの養女となるHoney Lovetteの話というので、買い込んだ。

Me encanto

*4.5* stars. This was a powerful, beautifully written book which enthralled me and transported me to an unfamiliar place and time. Life was hard in the Appalachia’s isolated. homes in the regions’ hills and valleys. During the Economic depression and later, the laws in Kentucky upheld racial segregation and marriage or cohabitation between people of different races was forbidden. Poverty was prevalent. Hunger, sickness, and starvation were widespread. Many who were ill or with life-threatening injuries could not afford medical care, often resorting to folk remedies. Many held superstitious beliefs. Coal miners were exploited, overworked long hours under dangerous conditions and were indebted to the company store. In the early 1800s, a man from France settled in the Appalachian hills near Troublesome Creek. He married, and they were unaware they both carried a recessive gene which caused a rare blood disorder. This genetic condition resulted in brown blood and blue skin and nails. In such an isolated area, marriage among relatives occurred and children were born with this genetic defect. This resulted in what is known as the Blue People of Kentucky. Segregation laws which applied to Blacks also discriminated against people with Blue Skin and they were categorized as Coloured. Life was a struggle for poor white people, but even more difficult for those classified as Coloured. In 1935 the Government established the Pack Horse Librarians which employed mostly single women. Donated books, old magazines, farm journals were carried by Book Women to remote homes. They also repaired donated books and made scrapbooks containing recipes, dress patterns, articles on hunting, fishing, farming, hygiene, and comic strips. The trails the women travelled on their book rounds were long and formidable. The Book Women rode horses, mules, travelled by boat or on foot for many miles through rugged landscapes to bring books to the downtrodden, sick and discouraged people as well as a few tiny schools and isolated shacks. Most people were delighted to receive a visit and books brought by Book Women, and valued the stories and yearned to become literate. Cussy, also called Bluet, was one of the Book Women who rode a mule through hills and valleys, along treacherous mountain ridges, and through streams. Sometimes she was shunned due to her blue skin, and women at her workplace treated her with prejudice and scorn. Some thought her colour was a sign of evil spirits or avoided touching her fearing that her condition might be contagious. However, Cussy was proud of her work with the Pack Horse Librarians, and some of her clients were excited to receive a loan of a book or magazine and welcomed her as a friend. She was earning $28 a month with which she supported herself and her father, an overworked coal miner. The book establishes a vivid sense of place and characters. The dialogue seemed authentic for the time and place. The peoples’ meagre diets, struggles, living conditions were well described. Courting customs, superstitions, and folk remedies were fascinating. Recommended!

An excellent read. Very informative on the history of book women, also the intricacies and negatives identified in humans inability to live along side on another. Well worth reading.