By Kim Michelle Richardson
Sourcebooks Landmark, Naperville, IL, 2019, 320 pages
Reviewed by Debbie Keith
While sitting at my airline gate reading, I looked up as another traveler said: “I really enjoyed that book.” I smiled: “I’m enjoying it too.”
The main character, nineteen year old Cussy Mary Carter, was born with methemoglobinemia, an inherited disorder that causes skin to be blue. Cussy was a Kentucky-born girl who often suffered prejudice, discrimination and isolation because of her blue skin. Learning about this rare phenomenon piqued my interest.
Cussy took a job with The Pack Horse Library Project delivering reading material to Appalachia’s poorest. Her clients lived in isolated areas in eastern Kentucky. The Pack Horse Library Project began in 1935 and ended in 1943. It was part of President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration’s (WPA). Many workers used horses. Some used rowboats to get to those who lived in the nooks and crannies in the Kentucky mountains. Cussy used a mule she named Junia. The librarians shared reading material that was collected from church donations, PTA’s, Boy Scouts, Women’s Clubs and home-made scrapbooks with recipes, health tips, and short stories.
Cussy had to endure the hardships of the journey and suffer the prejudices because she was blue. This novel brings those two aspects together to create a deep American historical fiction and to bring them to the forefront for today’s readers.
I have recently learned that there is a sequel called The Book Woman’s Daughter, and I’m looking forward to reading it soon.