The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

(Spoilers Ahead)

I picked up The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek from a fellow book club friend after seeing her and several other people post about how much the enjoyed it. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and learning about two things I never new existed: The Pack Horse Library Project and the blue-skinned people of Kentucky. 

This story takes place in the backwoods of Kentucky in hill country in the 1930's.  The book opens with a librarian on her mule coming upon a body hanging from a tree with a noticeably blue-skinned foot and a crying baby on the ground.  You enter the story not knowing who it is that is hanging and who it was that found the body. 

The main character goes by many names: her given name of Cussy Mary, the book woman and Bluet.  The last one comes from the color of her skin.  I have to admit I stopped pretty early on to google the blue-skinned people of Kentucky because I wanted to see pictures. I will let you embark on that google journey yourself, but it is really interesting.

Mary lives with her father in the deep woods.  Her mother passed away. Her father is a coal miner and she is part of the Pack Horse Library Project where she is one of several women (and a few men) who deliver books to people's homes in some pretty treacherous territory.  What I thought of from the very beginning of this store was the Bookmobile! Not everyone had a bookmobile, but I grew up in a small town and we would have one come through our neighborhood every two weeks.  For a bookworm kid like me, this was more exciting than the ice cream truck.  Now keep in mind that I grew up in a time where we had TV, went to school and had neighbors to play with every day.  In this story, the kids (and adults) that Mary encountered were so isolated, poor, starving, and barely educated (if at all).  Some of the people she delivered to couldn't read so she would deliver magazines or books with pictures and she would take time out of her day to read to her patrons. 

Early on Mary's father is putting out her "courting candle" - another thing I had never heard of before opening this book! - and suitors would come by to discuss marrying Mary.  Her father was offering a deed of 10 acres of land to marry her.  Even with that offer, men just wouldn't do it because of her blue skin. Finally someone does and that guy is a complete asshole.  He essentially beats her and rapes her and then kills over with a heart attack either during or right after sex. Mary quickly becomes a widow.  After recovering from her horrible injuries, she returns to her book route.

The thing I loved most about this story were all the characters you met.  Angeline who was married to a grumpy thief who got shot in the food and almost died from his injury leaving a pregnant Angeline behind until Mary gets him medicine to help him.  Little Henry who was starving to death (literally) but gave Mary his life saver wrapped up in paper for her to eat when she was very hungry.  Timmy whose family wouldn't allow her to come to the house to deliver books so she left them in a pot under a tree across a stream for the boy to collect and return his rentals.  The old, almost blind lady Ms. Loretta who was so sweet to Mary and didn't care one bit about the color of her skin.  Of course, the wonderful, caring, loving Mr. Lovett.  I just knew there was going to be a love story the first day we met them!!

There was a lot of sadness in this story. Henry dies of starvation, Angeline dies after childbirth and her husband hanged himself because he was afraid he would be found out as a "blue."  Pour Mr. Lovett gets beaten and arrested after he marries Mary for allegedly breaking miscegenation laws (marrying between races).  This story brought tears to my eyes more than once. 

At the same time, there was so much love in this story.  The way Mary would never take gifts of food from people because she knew they were all starving, and when she did take it, she gave it away to someone else who needed it.  The way Mr. Lovett told her that she was beautiful and that she didn't have to take the medicine the doctor gave her to make her skin white (it was just a temporary fix that mad her terribly ill).  The way Mary took in Angeline's child Honey without a second thought agreeing to raise her as her own.  The way Mary's Pa took such good care of her and tried to protect her in every way possible.

The other thing I loved about this novel were the really obscure references to old wives' tales that were used to heal.  There was one part were the two women, Harriet and Eula who ran the library project were talking about an advertisement they saw in a magazine scolding a housewife saying she did this one disgraceful thing by forgetting her smelly lady parts and then proceeded to advertise LYSOL to be used as a douche! I about lost it! 

One other quote I took the time to write down as I was reading was one from Mary's father, who said "A sneaky time thief is in them books. There's more important ways to spend a fellar's time."  We have to agree and disagree here, Pa.  I do agree that they are a time thief, stealing away the hours while I read, but I don't know that there are more important ways to spend my time.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐