Tag Archives: pack horse librarian

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Teenager Cussy Carter becomes a traveling librarian, delivering reading material to folks beyond means of travel other than four-legged. Nicknamed Bluet as the last female of the Blue People of Kentucky, she bravely faces dangerous trails to support literacy in her part of the world, and connect with her neighbors, often as the only other face they see. As bigotry causes cataclysmic shifts in her own life, she maintains her route, offering more than books to her customers. Richardson presents a compelling portrait of an isolated people, especially the family who suffers more severe hardships for their indigo skin, in the hollers of Appalachia. Combining that history with the librarians who traversed ignorance as much as menacing terrain provides a unique character in Cussy Carter. I was fortunate to receive this wonderfully written story from the publisher Sourcebooks Landmark through NetGalley.