The Mountains We Call Home: The Book Woman’s Legacy
The Mountains We Call Home is third in the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek series. Cussy, the beloved Kentucky “book woman” and her mule, Junia, introduced readers to the Pack Horse Librarians and their life-changing journeys through the Appalachian Mountains. Now, in the early 1950s, Kentucky Blue Cussy, is married to white man Jackson Lovett, and they have been arrested and incarcerated for miscegenation. This novel is Cussy’s story of survival and a testament to the courage and strength she possesses as she brings books to heal those in prison.
Kim Michele Richardson brings an unsettling depth of understanding to the mostly new cast of characters based on her own background of poverty and homelessness. Chosen to be the “book woman” in the prison, Cussy’s gift of matching books to readers wins the hearts and souls of the women, the warden and the guards. She brings hope to the women in the geriatric ward when she movingly reads chapters aloud from Charlotte’s Web. The women make astonishing changes, showing the power of the written word on their relationships and outlook. As Cussy appears with books, ward by ward, Richardson slowly reveals the humanity and worth of those imprisoned.
This well-researched novel shines a dark light on treatment of incarcerated women, medical experiments with lobotomies and, later, the costs of urban renewal. Up and over the trails of Troublesome Creek, tragedy in Louisville, and finding a new life teaching women to read and write, Cussy Lovett’s saga imparts the immense pride and the power reading the printed word has on all lives. An eye-opening, heartwarming denouement. Highly recommended.
