The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Kim Michele Richardson’s historical fiction, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (2019), builds upon two fascinating and lesser-known histories of 1930s Appalachia: the pack horse librarians and the blue-skinned people of Kentucky. Months after Richardson’s book came out, Jojo Moyes’s novel, A Giver of Stars, did too (causing a stir in the book world as Richardson purported to observe troubling overlaps between the two novels). Both novels fictionalize the lives of the lady pack horse librarians and, yes, both novels touch on issues of race and hunger, but Moyes’ novel focuses heavily on the labor disputes at the local coal mine while Richardson’s novel contemplates the issue of race and medical research. Both novels include scenes of domestic violence and racism, and both novels allude to the desperate poverty of the hillfolk and the unionization of Kentucky coal miners, but their styles and emphases are certainly different. Like other reviewers, I find their thematic overlaps certainly notable, but I see nothing of plagiarism or idea-theft as they tell very different stories.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek opens in 1936 and (with the exception of a short third-person scene with which the novel begins) is a first-person account of the life Cussy Mary. Cussy is both a pack horse librarian and the last of the blue-skinned people of Kentucky (or so she has always been told). Cussy’s narration sets the novel in Appalachia as much as any description of the landscape and people; she tells her story in a no-nonsense way with all the idiosyncrasies of Kentucky speech.
As a “blue,” Cussy experiences the same racist discrimination as her friend, Queenie Johnson, an African-American pack horse librarian. Her skin color has always separated her from the people—particularly the other young women—of Troublesome Creek. Her blue-hued skin has also always intrigued the local town doctor, who calls her “Bluet” and wishes to study her blood and attempt to cure her condition. In the role of pack horse librarian, Cussy finds a welcome and meaningful identity beyond her skin color and she revels in her role as “Book Woman.”
Cussy lives with her Pa in the woods outside Troublesome Creek. Pa’s concerns for Cussy’s future lead to further troubles, but in the end, Cussy finds herself back atop a mule delivering books to the hillfolk of rural Kentucky. In addition to exploring themes of racism, rare medical conditions, and Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek is a story about a reserved woman coming out of shell. As Cussy discovers friendship and meaning in her book route, she also finds her way to a man who sees beyond her skin color. Romance and grit, identity and self-worth all play a part in The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek.
A Few Great Passages:
“I wondered if his mama had been book-read. My mama didn’t have the higher learning, but she’d read plenty enough to almost be. She got most of her smarts from her French grandfather and had herself the start of a small library with eight fine books Pa’d scraped and saved to buy for her” (43).
“The May morning unfolded slowly in Kentucky’s old hand, and soon a children’s moon climbed into a bright new sky. For a young’un in the hills, the daytime moon was something to behold. The slow way of life and meager existence in these old, grandmother mountains meant that mamas put babes to bed long before dark, before the burning hunger set in” (94).
“She looked a little wild standing there, fierce, her tanned feet comfortable atop ancient knobby tree roots like the earth was her Cinderella slipper” (71).
“The pain of poverty, years of shame, scorn, and loneliness paled, and I tried to break free and grasp the hope, embrace this wonderful, odd sentiment called love” (263).
Bibliography:
Moyes, Jojo. A Giver of Stars. Viking: 2019.
Richardson, Kim Michele. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Sourcebooks: 2019.
