Based on the first mobile library in Kentucky, part of Roosevelt's 1930's Works Progress Administration (WPA) program, The Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, combined with the interesting true story of the blue-skinned people of Kentucky, The Fugates, a family that were carriers of a rare genetic trait which led to the disease methemoglobinemia, which gives sufferers blue-tinged skin.
This is the story of Troublesome Creek a small town with people who have very little of what they need. This is the story of Cussy Mary Carter, a "blue", who becomes one of the the town's first traveling librarian, carrying books by horse through rivers, mountains, gullies in all weather, sometimes crossing paths with dangerous moon-shiners, dangerous animals, and even more dangerous people who were racist prejudiced against "blues".
I highly recommend this book.
"…a hauntingly atmospheric love letter to the first mobile library in Kentucky and the fierce, brave packhorse librarians who wove their way from shack to shack dispensing literacy, hope, and — just as importantly — a compassionate human connection."—Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants
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