This is a portion of the review posted on my blog Trails of Tales
Kim Michele Richardson has written a fiction, beautiful beyond words, teeming with strength inspired by the actual blue mountain folk of Kentucky and the dedicated services of the mobile library of 1930’s.

I am struggling to find words potent enough to describe how I felt about this book.

Not just Cussy Mary but all the other characters that the author brought to life in ‘The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek‘ were created lovingly with a insightful depth.

Kim Michelle Richardson’s dedication to her characters is more than apparent in her writing.

Cussy Mary is the perfect protagonist for this story. Her fear is palpable. And so is her love for books.

I felt as afraid as Cussy did crossing those dangerous routes to deliver books, afraid of the man who kept trying to rape her in the name of ‘purging her of her unholy unnaturalness’.

I realized that is is easy to identify with a fear like that when you are a woman.

Speaking of characters, there is one special character I would like to draw your attention to.

Junia, Cussy Mary’s female mule who is extremely loyal, intiutive, brave and has a lingering suspicion of all males.

I believe that if you have an animal in your life who chooses to love you, then you are truly blessed.

Junia’s love for Cussy Mary was undeniable and her loyalty towards Cussy was what kept her safe and sound on more than one occassion. Their friendship gave an extra layer to this story that warmed my heart and made me more attached to ‘The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek‘.

It must be a huge undertaking for an author to write a historical fiction. Weaving a story that resonates with the audience and respecting the weight of the history involved at the same time has to be tedious. But Kim Michelle Richardson has given it her all and given us a result that will not cease to amaze.

The author has given a detailed history of the blue skinned peoples and the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project at the end of the book. It was inspiring to read how many people slogged to carry the magic of books to those who didn’t know of it.

It lays bare the truth of what happens when people refuse to see beyond the colour of skin. As a Person of Colour myself this is not a story that I can ignore.

I am positive that ‘ The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek’ is a tale that you will cherish. Add it to your TBR list now!

This was a wonderful story and the main character had such grit. I had also never heard of blue people so that was fascinating. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I love novels where the story telling is based on true historical facts, especially when they are something I'd never heard of before. In this novel, the author weaves together two interesting, well researched historical episodes from 1930s Kentucky to tell a fascinating and memorable story.

Nineteen year old Cussy Mary Carter and her widowed coal miner father live in a small shack near Troublesome Creek, where they barely scrape by on his meagre wages and her small salary as a librarian for the Pack Horse Library Project. Cussy and her father are both members of the Blue people, an inbred family with a mutation that makes their skin appear blue, causing them to be reviled by the whites in town and banned from white-only rest rooms, restaurants and events. Because of this Cussy loves the solitary nature of her job bringing library books by horseback through the mountains of the Appalachians to impoverished backwoods families (her 'patrons'), who are mostly too excited to see new books arriving to worry much about the colour of her skin. While Cussy is happy to stay single for the rest of her life if she can only keep being a librarian, her father wants only to see her married before he dies of the miner's lung disease that is slowly killing him and that's when all the trouble starts.

This is a heartwarming and, at times, heart wrenching tale of racism and injustice and the power of books and a fierce, courageous woman determined to open up the world for others through education and knowledge. There are some wonderful characters amongst Cussy's patrons - quiet, shy teenager Angeline expecting her first child, R.C. the firewatcher who wants to study to become a forest ranger as well as Cussy's friend and handsome Jackson Lovett as well as Cussy's friend, Negro pack horse librarian Queenie who eventually escapes the small town bigots to become a librarian in Philadelphia and Doc who desparately wants to get his hands on Cussy to study her blood and skin. Highly recommended for those who enjoy good storytelling with a historical background.

This is one of those books that will leave a lasting impression. I absolutely loved the main character, Cussy Mary (a.k.a. Bluet), with her fierce determination to deliver books even though it came at a great risk to her own safety - in addition to the difficult trails there was the possibility that she could encounter people who wanted to do her harm because of the color of her skin. No matter how she was treated or what atrocities she had to endure, she continued to do what she could to bring books (and sometimes food) to her patrons - even thinking up ways that she could entice those who were less inclined to read with scrapbooks containing recipes or other information that she thought they would find helpful. This story was both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

This book broke my heart, twisted it, stomped on it, and then uplifted it. I cried and raged as I read it. It is an emotional hotbed kind of read dealing with extreme poverty and hardship, discrimination, and perseverance.

Cussy Mary Carter is a "Blue" (the last female of the blue-skinned people of Kentucky) who lives with her father (a "Blue" coal miner) and who works for Roosevelt's WPA Pack Horse Library Project. She delivers books to isolated mountain people. These people are so poor some are dying of starvation but they are also starving for books and news. Cussy is devoted to the people on her route and tries to bring each one something special to read. She is also devoted to spreading literacy. Her perseverance through hardship proved her a strong and courageous girl.

One of my very best reads so far this year. My thanks to Kim Michele Richardson and Sourcebooks Landmark through Netgalley for an advance copy.

This book is set in 1936 rural Kentucky and features Cussy Carter, a young woman who has joined the Pack Horse Library Project and delivers books and other materials to the people living in the hills of eastern Kentucky who are steeped in abject and unrelenting poverty. Cussy is the last woman of the blue-skinned people of Kentucky. She has to face those suspicious of both her skin color and the literacy program sponsored by the government. Added to the dangers of traversing the back country on her own with only her mule, Junio, as company is her father’s determination to marry her to the first man who asks for her thus making her career as a librarian a thing of the past.

Richardson has written a book with not only an unique setting, but an unique people as well. The book is well-written and the characters well-developed and likable. She has provided us a testimony to the human spirit as well.

This book deserves to be on the top of the TBR piles of those who love words, love reading, love historical fiction, and love books that invoke a variety of emotions.

An enlightening and fascinating historical fiction novel that was impossible to put down and will be a hard book to forget.

SUMMARY
THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK is about the WPA Pack Horse Library Project of 1935 and the factual Blue People of eastern Kentucky.  It’s a tribute to the librarians who traveled on horseback and mule to provide books to the poor and isolated communities in Kentucky.

Cussy Mary Carter is the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. She becomes a librarian at nineteen, riding across creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule, Junia, 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 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.

“Our Bluet is a librarian for the Pack Horse project. A smart book woman for our little town.” His voice was proud like, like a papa bragging on his child.”

REVIEW
This is a unique, fascinating and enlightening story about the Kentucky Blue People and Pack Horse Librarians. I was not familiar with either of these topics when I selected the book, but a book about books is bound to be good. But it wasn’t just good it was great. This is one of those moments that a book totally took me by surprise.

It’s a tale of one woman’s fierce strength and her belief that books can help ease burdens, escape misery, and grow minds. Cussy’s character was so well-developed you can’t help but feel her shame, her anger, her compassion and her strength. My favorite part was Cussy’s tremendous dedication to help her book patrons in any way she could. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was impossible to put down and will be a hard book to forget.

Kim Michele Richardson’s writing is touching and she provides an authentic Appalachian voice.  She was born in Kentucky and resides part-time in Western North Carolina. She is an advocate for the prevention of child abuse and domestic violence, partnering with the U. S. Navy globally to bring awareness and education to the prevention of domestic violence. Her works includes Liar's Bench (2015), GodPretty in the Tobacco Field (2016) and The Sisters of Glass Ferry (2017). The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is her fourth novel.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kim Michelle Richardson and SourceBooks Landmark for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

““Listen Bluet, we may be able to cure you, make you white. Wouldn’t you like that? “He asked gently and pulled the motor car onto the side of the road. Maybe there weren’t anything a Blue should like better than becoming normal like that, but the pain and the fear left me shaken and crowded out those possibilities.”

Publisher Sourcebooks Landmark
Published May 7, 2019
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

In the mid 1930s, nineteen-year-old Cussy is thought to be the last living female of Kentucky's rare Blue People, which places her in a social class on par with Negroes. Despite her father's increasingly desperate attempts to see her married to a man who will provide for her when the mines claim Pa's life, nobody is willing to take a chance on young Bluet. She joins the Pack Horse Library Project, becoming a librarian who delivers books and other reading materials via mule to the poor hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Although this is a work of fiction, a lot of it is based on reality. I had never heard of the Blue People, but will certainly look into the condition and its potential treatments at my earliest opportunity. While I was familiar with the WPA (Works Progress Administration), I was unaware of their Library Project, which also drove me to learn more. What I learned about both was fascinating, and made this book seem more like one based on a true story than a fictional account. While it took awhile to get into the story, I was glad I stuck with it and will recommend this book to anyone looking for a historical fiction book that will stick with you long after you've read the last page

The story was ok, but had some jumbled writing at times. The way time jumped around at times and the extensive use of vernacular of the era and location took away from the story at times. Cussy is a librarian in the hills of Kentucky. Life is harsh and violent and fierce at the time setting of this book, and Cussy has an extra dose of this tough reality because her skin is blue.

The best part about historical fiction is when it motivates you to learn, and that’s what this book did! I had never heard of the Blue People of Kentucky, and now I know lots about them, as well as the Pack Horse Library Project, established as part of the WPA in 1935. Although this book was a little wordy at times, the author did an excellent job of making sure the reader FELT emotions. At times I was hesitant to read because I was fearful for the main character; other times I was moved to tears. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a great piece of historical fiction.

A strong and beautiful story of the strength of a people and the compassion of one woman who touched many lives. In 1936 Kentucky, in the town of Troublesome Creek,  lives 19-year-old Cussy Mary Carter. The last known living woman of the Blue People of Kentucky.

The Coal mines are slowly killing her father and half the town and the other half is dying from poverty and lack of medical care. Cussy is a reader. So when she hears about the historical Pack Horse Library Project she becomes a librarian on a mule. Bringing books and reading material to the hill people of Kentucky. The route is dangerous and the mules aren't very co-operative, but Cussy is determined to bring these people a way to read and learn and to have them trust her.

She is called Bluet because of her blue skin but is known as the Book Woman. The people in town are cruel to her. Lumping her in with the coloreds in town and making sure she knows she isn't wanted. But to those people up the mountains, she is everything.

This book is based on the true story of the family of blue skinned people in Kentucky. You can look it up. I cried so much in this book. It broke my heart the way these people treated her.  But she never gave up. She kept the faith and the author did a beautiful job of making us feel all the feels!







NetGalley/  May 7th 2019 by Sourcebooks Landmark

Thank you Bookishfirst and Netgalley for providing an advanced copiy of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson in return for my honest review.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was a very touching historical fiction novel about a woman, named Cussy, ostracized due to her blue skin. She defied societal restrictions, earning her independence delivering books on horseback to poverty stricken areas in Appalachia, Kentucky in the 1930s as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal education program.

There was so much to like about this story. There were well-developed, relatable characters; some of them touched this reader’s heart and some of them broke it. This was a substantial story that was engaging, heartwarming and heartbreaking. Cussy is a character I will long remember in the very best of ways. She was a character who could have been bitter and resentful due to her circumstances, but instead was tender, kind and brave. She may have lived in a small, provincial town, but she found a path for herself, despite significant personal risk, delivering books to poverty stricken, remote communities. The charming, quirky friends she met along the way, as well as the prejudice she encountered, positively impacted how she saw herself and the life that she lived.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2743563245


So I have heard of the blue people of Kentucky before, and you tie that in with traveling librarians of the 1930's and I was sold. This is all about Cussy, or Bluet as they call her for her blue skin. I have to say, my heart broke for her. Through all her trials she had just because of the color of her skin, and all the prejudice she experienced. They did touch on the mining at the time, and how the Company were killing their workers and polluting the land. I loved this story, sad as it was. The history in it was amazing.

Troublesome Creek Reads

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is located in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky, and details the lives of the pack horse librarians, especially the life of Cussy Mary Carter. Cussy Mary was a "colored" woman, because her skin was blue. The era of the novel is during the Depression and this was a WPA program. What was not known was that the blue skin came from a type of anemia called methemoglobinemia, which means their blood is missing an enzyme and because of this missing enzyme, their blood was chocolate brown from lack of oxygen and their skin was blue. But, the "Blues," as they were called were treated much like the African-Americans in the area and they were all called "Colored."

Bluet, as Cussy Mary was called, had a route near her homestead where she delivered books, stopped and read to people, and generally took care of the people on her route. While Bluet made $28/month on her route, her father worked in the coal mines for unrealistic managers who used their employees like canaries in the mines.

Bluet's supervisors didn't really accept her and didn't like that she had a route, but she was willing to serve in a hard area to get to. She also had a few Blues on her route, but not very many--they were a dying breed.

Kim Michelle Richardson has written a thought-provoking book that will challenge the readers' prejudices and preconceived notions of what life has been like for people who are not like "us."

This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a library book delivered to you.

My thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Wow. The opening scene is powerful and vivid. And the blue-skinned people of Kentucky is intriguing and unique. I'd never heard of them before and love the historical attention.

Cussy is an interesting character, and I like how she stands out--not only because of the color of her skin, but because she is strong and forward moving. The cover is wonderful, and any book about books catches my attention. I love the 'book' aspect of the story.

Some of the story matter is difficult to get through - and covers matters I normally choose not to read. I feel much of the story was predictable, and I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending.

All in all, I enjoyed this book, as well as the title, cover, characters, and setting.

Unfortunately, I was unable to continue reading the book because it didn't catch my attention and I had difficulty continuing the rest of the book. Only read up to chapter 3. Maybe later I will pick it up again to see if I can read it all.

Sorry I had to DNF the book.

This book had me hooked from the start. After the author introduced some blue skinned characters to me within the first few pages of the book, I was asking myself: "What? Is this for real?" I immediately fact checked on the Internet to see if these kind of people actually exist and they do! Since I had never heard about the extremely rare congenital disease named methemoglobinemia that causes people's skin to look blue, I was fascinated with this book. Although the novel is a fictional tale of a blue Kentucky "Book Woman," it described many of the real struggles and triumphs of the Pack Horse Library Project (which was started by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 as part of his Works Progress Administration.) The project created jobs for women and brought books and other reading materials to the isolated and poor areas of Kentucky. I fell in love with the main character Cussy Mary Carter (sometimes nicknamed "Bluet" or the "Book Woman.") Despite having to face abuse, prejudice, and loneliness because of her blue features, she is strong willed, determined, and compassionate as she risks her life to bring reading materials to the extremely poor inhabitants of Troublesome Creek, KY. Besides enjoying the well crafted fictional parts of this novel, I also thoroughly enjoyed reading the author's notes about methemoglobinemia, the Pack Horse Library Project, and courting candles. It's always a treat to find out which scenes in a historical fiction novel are based on real facts, especially when you find out that some unbelievable scenes were really based on actual history! Thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. All thoughts expressed are my honest opinions of the book.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s. Cussy's not only a book woman, her belief is that books can carry us anywhere.

Good story. Beautifully written. Must read.

4.5☆

Tw: a slight mention of martial assault , suicide , and racism.

Ok, I got this arc a while back and I surely don’t regret it now. At first I was a little worried on that I wouldn’t like it. But I absolutely loved it. The authors writing was phenomenal and very intriguing.

The mc was pretty much had of her time and had blue skin. Which I find unique and I had no clue that there was actual people with blue skin .Plus they liked books and they showed how books was important.


Of there was ALOT of things that didn’t seat well with me . Like sexism, racism, and other stuff that would just make me scream . It’s a different time period and different ways of thinking.

I’m really glad that I got the chance to review this . It was such a emotional and exciting ride . One I would definitely buy to experience again and again .

This was a fascinating story about two topics that I knew nothing about...the pack horse librarians of the WPA and the 'blue people' of Kentucky. Cussy Mary is both. She has lived her life hidden away because of the superstitions and fear which follow her because of her blue skin (I looked it up and the people really were blue!). Her story is one of overcoming. She must overcome the fears of her neighbors in order to become one of the book women who delivered reading materials to the poor of the Appalachian back country. In Cussy Mary's case, she is bringing food for the mind, soul and body because she shares what little she has with her patrons, bringing books, magazines and newspapers, but also companionship and food. A great deal of research is evident in the author's writing and I would highly recommend this title to fans of historical fiction.