The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was an intriguing book about the blue people of Kentucky. I did a little research on this, as it seems so far-fetched. My family is from the hills of Kentucky, but I had not heard of it. History majors in my book club had never heard of these people, but indeed they do exist.
Apparently, it’s a very rare genetic condition which causes a white person’s skin to appear blue. Both parents must have the recessive gene. It started when a man from Paris France, who had the recessive gene, moved to rural Kentucky. As fate would have it, he fell in love with a woman who also had the recessive gene. Half of their children were blue, and the other half were white.
The blue-skinned people suffered much racism, and were treated as “colored” folks. It was hard for them to marry, as no one wanted to have children with blue skin. They didn’t have a good understanding of the cause until years later. The book focuses on a blue-skinned woman named “Cussy.” She lives in Troublesome Creek Kentucky. She is a strong female protagonist, and when her mother dies and her father becomes ill, she decides to become a mobile librarian to provide for herself. It came with many challenges, which I won’t give away, but she is an overcomer.
This is based on the true “book women” who would ride on horses or mules to carry books to the mountains where people could not reach a library. The book contains pictures from a historic society of the original book women, which were interesting to see as well. Quite an intriguing history lies behind the novel.
I enjoyed reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, and I learned some things about Kentucky culture that I didn’t already know. I admit it was a challenge to get into it the book at first. I didn’t finish it until after the book club met. I didn’t think I was going to make it to this group due to our Airstream vacation, but we came back early so I was able to go after all. That’s one thing I love about our book club. Even if you haven’t finished the book, you can still talk about it.
One of the other book club members agreed she had the same difficulty getting into the book. Their southern language was written into the dialogue, and it was sometimes hard to understand what the characters were trying to say. However, I enjoyed reading the story and found the character of Cussy to be an inspiration to other underdogs. I also appreciated the extents these book women traveled, as they delivered the books to the mountain people. They didn’t just deliver books. They read letters to the illiterate, taught people how to read, became life-long friends, and served their patrons in ways that were far beyond their expected role. I gave it an 8.5.
Our leader always sums up our discussion. Here’s what she sent us this month. Eight of us gathered on this hot afternoon to discuss The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson. All of us liked the book and most of us knew nothing of the Blue people of the Appalachian or Kentucky. We all loved Cussy especially since she was such a strong woman and how miserable her life was in Troublesome Creek. The prejudices, racial tensions even with her peers at the Kentucky Pack Horse Program. We all thought that the program was so important and courageous and even to this day we discussed how important libraries and reading is to each of us. We thought about our memories of Mobile Libraries, the smell and exhilaration of escaping in books, Reader’s Digest; Highlight magazines, etc. Some of us had a hard time getting into it but then thought it was very well written. We rated the book an 8.7.
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!