Both of my book clubs selected this read for 2022, and with good reason. This is one of the best books I read all last year. Richardson is a consummate researcher who has delved into two aspects of Kentucky history (her home state) that are little known: the pack horse librarians, and the blue people. The protagonist, Cussy Mary, is both of these things.

Books have given Cussy Mary a purpose in a life where she is the frequently the object of discrimination or fearful superstition. The local doctor wishes to subject her to scientific study, like a lab rat. Her father, sensing his tenure on this earth is drawing to a close, wants to marry Cussy to any willing suitor, offering them land as an incentive.

Cussy serves as a lifeline to many of the library customers on her route. Other people in the community seek to destroy her, or at least marginalize and exclude her from the white society. The blows to her self-worth from internalizing this ignorant behavior is countered by those who see past her unusual skin color and by her own growing sense of self-worth, thanks to her library route.

The story is told with great sensitivity and in rich detail. The harshness of life in early 20^th-century Appalachia will have you in tears, when you aren’t cringing in horror.