The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jun 22, 2020 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: racism, historical-fiction, medicine, concierge, strong-women, library, kentucky

Digital audio performed by Katie Schorr.

Deep in the Appalachia Mountains of Kentucky is the community of Troublesome Creek. Life is difficult here in the best of times, during the Great Depression it is particularly challenging. But thanks to Franklin D Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library project, Cussy Mary Carter has a job as a librarian, delivering books and magazines to the most remote homesteads of the area. Cussy is also unique in that she is the last of the “blue people,” having inher Digital audio performed by Katie Schorr.

Deep in the Appalachia Mountains of Kentucky is the community of Troublesome Creek. Life is difficult here in the best of times, during the Great Depression it is particularly challenging. But thanks to Franklin D Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library project, Cussy Mary Carter has a job as a librarian, delivering books and magazines to the most remote homesteads of the area. Cussy is also unique in that she is the last of the “blue people,” having inherited a medical condition that results in a blue tint to her skin. In addition to the dangers of the terrain, she also faces the prejudice against her kind – and the Jim Crow laws that oppress all “colored people.”

I love reading historical fiction, particularly when it focuses on an element of history about which I know little. I had heard of the pack-horse librarians before. (In fact, at least 10 years ago, I wrote a letter to another author suggesting she explore this part of history for a book – to my knowledge, she never did.) So, I was immediately interested in this story. The added element of Cussy’s medical condition was new to me, and I was intrigued. And the author’s use of vernacular dialect helped to transport me to a different time and place.

Cussy is a marvelous lead character. Strong – both physically and mentally. A kind and compassionate woman who stands up for herself, whether against her father’s insistence that she marry or those residents who would harm her for nothing more than her skin color, she’s dedicated to her work and brings more than just books to the remote homesteads on her route. She also champions the cause of other oppressed people, as her father toils in the mines that provide a livelihood while stealing one’s health. Despite multiple setbacks, Cussy perseveres.

Katie Schorr does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. She brings these characters to life, and truly transported me to a different time and place.

The text version, which I also had handy, includes Author’s notes on the history behind the novel, as well as photographs and an interview with the author.
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Jun 04, 2020 Sue rated it really liked it

Shelves: southern, natalie-bk-club, depression-era, neighborhood-bk-club

Cussy Mary is a heroine to be admired. She faces poverty, death, isolation, & bigotry with grace in her pain-filled life. She is in a strange place where her blue skin is seen as a form of colored, so she faces the oppression to be expected in 1930's Appalachia. When a "cure" is discovered for her hereditary blue skin, she faces unexpected obstacles. The story was very good. One reason is that every time I thought I had it figured out, there was a twist that made it better than the average and e ...more

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Apr 05, 2021 Beth rated it liked it

Shelves: historical

This was a really interesting look at Book Women in Kentucky during the depression, as the WPA hired people to haul books deep into the mountains. It's also an explanation of the Blue People of Kentucky, who had an unusual blood disorder that made their skin blue. I didn't quite give it a four because I thought the handling of color/race issues was a little clunky, which is probably unfair because I was also reading The Vanishing Half which does exactly that but superlatively. But the ending als ...more

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May 19, 2019 LynnB rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, health, book-club, books-about-books, 2019-reads

What a great story! I will be bringing this title up at my book club. There are so many discussion subjects: genetic methemoglobinemia, The Pack Horse Library Project, racism and prejudice, women's rights and marginalization, abject poverty in the Appalachian mountain area, interracial marriage, death and dying from lack of medical care and superstition, and more. ...more

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Jun 12, 2024 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, kentucky, gridlock, depressing

Cussy, also known as bluet, works for the pack horse library project, delivering books to people in remote Kentucky during the depression. Cussy has blue skin, which causes a lot of discrimination against her. I liked Cussy and thought the information about the library project and the blue people of Kentucky was interesting. This book was just very depressing, it got to the point where I was just hoping nothing else bad would happen to Cussy and then bam something else happened. If you have a hi ...more

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