Good evening.

Welcome to Inside the Cover.

Tonight's book is The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson.

It was copyrighted in 2019 and I finished my copy a few weeks ago.

I'm sharing this book with you for a couple of reasons.

First, it was recommended to me by one of our viewers, a long time friend and colleague from my years at WSU.

Thank you, Bill.

Second, and simply stated, I enjoyed the book.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

Kim Richardson was born in Kentucky in 1957.

She lives in Kentucky and resides part time in western North Carolina.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek tells the story of Cussy Mary Carter.

Cussy Mary Carters skin was blue.

Her parents carried a recessive gene, which was a cause of her disorder.

Her blood simply did not oxygenate, which made it harder to reach the body tissues.

So in many ways, our protagonist was a victim of discrimination and racial prejudice, which was, of course, rampant for those few African-Americans who lived in the hills, as she says, “Weren't a single soul who'd ever saw me as anything other than a color-- an ugly color.

” As the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Mary rode through the hills and backwoods of Kentucky on a weekly basis, riding on her cantankerous mule Junia, to deliver reading materials such as books, magazines and newspapers.

No matter how torn, dilapidated or outdated they were, to the impoverished and uneducated folks living in the mountains.

Cussy Mary understands and appreciates the difference she is making in the lives of so many desperate people.

As you might expect, the storyline involves coal miners, moonshiners, superstition, marginalization, folklore, ignorance, illness and death, poverty and families with multiple children, often with very young mothers.

And obviously, the story is overlaid with the aftermath of the Great Depression.

Early on, Cussys father, Elijah, had put out a courting candle on his porch in an effort to find her a suitor.

He was worried for her future after the death of his wife, Cussys mother.

The marriage was arranged to Charlie Frazier, a 62 year old denizen of the hills.

It did not last long as he passed on in the marriage bed.

However, as Cussy Mary returned to her book route, she was tailed by Charlie's brother, the Reverand Vester Frazier, and Richardson's writing conveys a continuing sense of alarm and fear for Cussy as she rides through the mountains.

In spite of all the sadness, gloom and harshness of the story and the lives of the characters in it, there are moments of hope, joy and enrichment, as Cussy and her book route clearly can and do, make a difference in the lives of those she serves so carefully, diligently and lovingly.

She clearly is an unsung heroine.

As one character notes, “you and those books are a shining light for our people.

For me.

” Returning to the earlier referenced blood disorder, a local doctor gets involved.

As a result of his efforts, her malady is diagnosed and Cussy is given medication to address the disorder, and her skin turns white.

However, she soon realizes that there's a price to pay for her white skin, and the side effects of the medication soon become too much for her to handle.

She also learns that having white skin did not earn her acceptance.

She decided to be who she was meant to be.

Tonight's book has been The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

I enjoyed it and I think you will as well.

I can certainly understand and appreciate the joy that Cussy Mary Carter felt as she shared her books with others like we do here on Inside the Cover.

I look forward to seeing you next week and please feel free to write us with your questions, comments and suggestions.

Who knows?

Your book might be featured on our show, just like Bill's.

Goodnight and see you next time.