While Cussy, or Bluet as she is called, is a fictional character, the backdrop of the packhorse librarians and the discrimination against the blue-skinned people was real. Author of “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek,” Kim Michele Richardson. (Leigh Photography) Bluet, the Book WomanĪuthor Kim Michele Richardson, who lives in Kentucky, has reached deep into her state’s history to create a charismatic, unforgettable, and inspiring woman. Like her father, she is among the last of Kentucky’s true blue-skinned people. She is thrilled with her new job that pays less than $30 a month, and she has no qualms about mounting a horse or mule (in her case) to traverse the beautiful, but often brutal, landscape on her daily routes to deliver reading material.įending off would-be suitors that her father arranged to come calling is an unpleasant affair for her-that, and the fact that she is marked as an untouchable.

Reeling from the economic and social consequences of the Great Depression, Kentucky’s Pack Horse Library Project had a two-pronged mission of giving work to women and bringing literature and art to remote areas of Appalachia.Ĭussy’s love of books and reading comes from her mother. Roosevelt, the Works Progress Administration (also known as the WPA). She is proud to be part of a new government initiative created by President Franklin D. His intentions are good, but his headstrong daughter has other ideas. Her father, a coal miner, is determined that she marry. It’s 1936. Cussy Mary Carter is a young woman living in a small, remote town in eastern Kentucky.

The book woman troublesome creek