The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel

A historical tale told in the innocent yet deep voice of the Book Woman, touches the humanity in your soul. The depth of the topic and the era it was set in makes it an interesting read by default. Cussy Mary's voice brought the story to life and you genuinely feel her joy, sorrow, pain and anger.This is a bold story which didn't shy away from the ugliness that exists among folks who are suffering and also the ones who are set in their own hard always. It gives you insight about a culture and people in the form of a thought provoking fiction.

This novel opens a window into a world in which the written word provides a lifeline of hope and opportunity in the midst of abject poverty, starvation and prejudice. The setting is Eastern Kentucky/Appalachia during the Depression, when food is a precious commodity and a human life is often treated as less valuable than a pack animal. The author presents a number of challenging interrelated topics deftly and with great empathy. Our guide to this world is Cussy Mary, the last of a family line of blue-skinned people, and we experience this very harsh world through her eyes: the generosity of one desperately hungry person toward another, the fierce sense of pride and dignity when one has almost nothing else, and the narrow-mindedness and arbitrary brutality of prejudice. We learn about the unique history of the blue-skinned people and the additional hardships they face. The author also celebrates the extraordinary Pack Horse Library Program, showing us both the danger the brave Book Women undertook, but also the community's intense desire for the books and everything they represent, including a way of connecting people and offering an escape from reality.This book works on many levels for me. The author presents many ideas around discrimination, social inequality and poverty in a way that emerges seamlessly from the historical world she is describing, but is also accessible and tangible to a modern audience grappling with these same dilemmas, and she does it with respect for both her audience and her characters. I heartily recommend this novel.

I had never heard of “blue skinned people”. Googled them and there were photos! An educational novel with a good storyline.

Me encanto

*4.5* stars. This was a powerful, beautifully written book which enthralled me and transported me to an unfamiliar place and time.Life was hard in the Appalachia’s isolated. homes in the regions’ hills and valleys. During the Economic depression and later, the laws in Kentucky upheld racial segregation and marriage or cohabitation between people of different races was forbidden. Poverty was prevalent. Hunger, sickness, and starvation were widespread. Many who were ill or with life-threatening injuries could not afford medical care, often resorting to folk remedies. Many held superstitious beliefs.Coal miners were exploited, overworked long hours under dangerous conditions and were indebted to the company store.In the early 1800s, a man from France settled in the Appalachian hills near Troublesome Creek. He married, and they were unaware they both carried a recessive gene which caused a rare blood disorder. This genetic condition resulted in brown blood and blue skin and nails. In such an isolated area, marriage among relatives occurred and children were born with this genetic defect. This resulted in what is known as the Blue People of Kentucky. Segregation laws which applied to Blacks also discriminated against people with Blue Skin and they were categorized as Coloured. Life was a struggle for poor white people, but even more difficult for those classified as Coloured.In 1935 the Government established the Pack Horse Librarians which employed mostly single women. Donated books, old magazines, farm journals were carried by Book Women to remote homes. They also repaired donated books and made scrapbooks containing recipes, dress patterns, articles on hunting, fishing, farming, hygiene, and comic strips. The trails the women travelled on their book rounds were long and formidable. The Book Women rode horses, mules, travelled by boat or on foot for many miles through rugged landscapes to bring books to the downtrodden, sick and discouraged people as well as a few tiny schools and isolated shacks. Most people were delighted to receive a visit and books brought by Book Women, and valued the stories and yearned to become literate.Cussy, also called Bluet, was one of the Book Women who rode a mule through hills and valleys, along treacherous mountain ridges, and through streams. Sometimes she was shunned due to her blue skin, and women at her workplace treated her with prejudice and scorn. Some thought her colour was a sign of evil spirits or avoided touching her fearing that her condition might be contagious. However, Cussy was proud of her work with the Pack Horse Librarians, and some of her clients were excited to receive a loan of a book or magazine and welcomed her as a friend. She was earning $28 a month with which she supported herself and her father, an overworked coal miner.The book establishes a vivid sense of place and characters. The dialogue seemed authentic for the time and place. The peoples’ meagre diets, struggles, living conditions were well described. Courting customs, superstitions, and folk remedies were fascinating.Recommended!

ローズベルト大統領は導入した Kentucky Pack Horse Library Projectは、アパラチア山脈の極貧の人々に本と希望を与えた。主人公のCussy Mary Carterは「肌が青い」ためBluetと呼ばれ、ひどい差別を受けているが、人間としてのやさしさを失うことなく、この制度の下で本を人々に届けるbook womanの仕事を与えられ、賃金を得る。しかし、炭鉱夫の彼女の父は、過酷な職場で珪肺病にかかっているだけでなく、秘密の組合活動が会社に見つかれば殺されてしまうことを恐れ、Cussyの将来を守ろうと無理矢理に結婚させようとする。　一方、医師としてCussyに興味を持って調査をしたDoc は、彼女の症状はヘモグロビンに異常を起こす非常に稀な遺伝病で、療法もあることを発見し、差別する人々にその事実を告げる。にもかかわらず、黒人と同じcoloredとしてひどい差別が変わらないことに、ほんとうにびっくりした。しかし、原因は異なるがハンセン病患者に対するひどい差別を考えれば、恐怖を根底とする偏見が人間を残酷にすることを改めて理解したと感じる。　歴史小説と紹介されていたのに、史実に基づいた話であることがピンとこないで、途中でウィキペディアを調べたりした。Cussyが大変不幸になるのではとハラハラしながら読んだ。そこまではいかなかい結末で、これを甘いと考える人もいるかもしれないが、私はほっとした。これは1巻目で、2巻目は同じくBlueでCussyの養女となるHoney Lovetteの話というので、買い込んだ。