The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Have you ever found a subject you want to know more about, so you dive into learning as much about it as you can? I know I do! The subject I have been researching for the past couple months is packhorse librarianship. In addition to the nonfiction books and research articles I have read, I have curated a list of fiction books about packhorse librarians that I have been making my way through.

The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer is the third adult fiction book about packhorse librarians that I have read thus far. Taking place during the Great Depression, Sawyer’s novel draws inspiration from the real Works Progress Administration program that sent librarians on horseback to deliver books to hill families in Kentucky.

Addie Cowherd wants to be a novelist. Adopted by her parents at a young age, Addie wants to give readers an escape into books like what she experienced during her tragic childhood. Working at a library while going to college, Addie believes that she has finally found a way to make her dreams come true. Life has other plans for her as her adoptive father loses his job and Addie realizes that she doesn’t have the funds necessary to complete her degree. Forced to leave college and without the safety net of her parents to fall back on, Addie sets out to find a job which proves difficult given that it’s the Great Depression. Addie finally finds a job delivering books on horseback in the hills of Kentucky to poor coal mining families. Working in a library delivering books sounds perfect to Addie. She quickly spins ideas of what she’ll do and all the friends she will make once she gets to town.

As soon as Addie sets foot in Boone’s Hollow, her perfect ideas go up in smoke. The library in Boone’s Hollow is nothing like she thought. The residents in Boone’s Hollow are superstitious and wary of any outsiders. Locals who leave and come back are even subject to scrutiny. As Addie tries to find a new rhythm and gain the trust of the locals, she learns the truth about a decades-old rivalry that dictates many of the town’s actions. When someone decides to sabotage the library program, Addie and the other librarians have to work together to keep the program going or it will crumble into nothing.

Want to check out other fiction books about packhorse librarians? Below are two others available at the Davenport Public Library:

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham. – ANNA SEWELL, Black Beauty

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes is the embodiment of the above quote. The town of Baileyville, Kentucky is not what Alice Wright expected. Growing up in England, all Alice wanted was to get away from her stifling life and her narrow minded parents.  When she met Bennett Van Cleve, a handsome American who promised her a thrilling life away, Alice married him and left. Traveling across the world and eventually ending up in Baileyville, Kentucky, Alice has stars in her eyes about her new life and all the wonderous things she can do.

Baileyville does not live up to her expectations. It quickly becomes claustrophobic as Alice and Bennett are forced to live with Bennett’s overbearing father. Struggling to carve out a life for herself separate than that of her domineering father-in-law and away from the judgmental eyes of the local townsfolk, Alice wants so much more than this life has. When the opportunity to join the team of women delivering books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library appears, Alice promptly signs up.

Beginning to work with the team, Alice learns more about their daily lives and the motivations for why(and how) each ended up with the horseback librarians. The leader of the local horseback librarians is Margery, a woman who quickly becomes Alice’s friend and, more importantly, her ally. Margery has always lived on the outskirts as a self-sufficient, self-confident, and quick-witted woman who has never asked for a man’s permission to do anything. Margery, Alice, and three other women become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky and start bringing books, magazines, recipes, and information to families who desperately need them.

The women are clearly the focus in this novel, but the relationships with the men they love quickly show how compassion, loyalty, humanity, and justice are all necessary components to life in Baileyville, but whether or not the townspeople follow them is another story altogether. Although these women are working hard to provide a necessary service to people, the community doesn’t support their efforts entirely. The dangers these women face grow everyday as they travel the mountainside to bring books and materials to people who have never had any. Apparently giving the community access to facts and information is offensive to some and those people will stop at nothing to end the packhorse librarians for good.

This book is also available in the following formats:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Richardson

In 1936 Cussy Mary Carter is the “Book Woman”, working as a librarian with the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project. She brings books, friendship and news of the outside world to isolated families in remote parts of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky. Cussy is also one of the last of the blue people of Kentucky, people who’s skin appears blue, a trait that makes her stand out when she wants to blend in.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Richardson follows Cussy as she makes her way through a difficult life. It is books and the love of reading that keeps her going and bringing books to her patrons that makes her happy. Her work with the Kentucky Pack Horse Library brings her a lot of satisfaction, but it is a difficult and often dangerous job, especially for a woman alone in the wilderness. The trails are rough and often unpassable, many of the country people distrust anything to do with the government and actively discourage her or turn her away. Some refuse to talk to her because of her color (having her leave their books on the porch). The Pack Library has to make-do with cast-offs from other libraries with sadly worn and out-dated material. Yet Cussy treats everyone with kindness and compassion and slowly (some) people begin to accept her.

Now, if you read “people with blue skin” and thought “science fiction” or “Avatar” and think this book isn’t for you, think again! The blue-skinned people of Kentucky are real, their skin color caused by a very rare genetic condition called methemoglobinemia that causes their skin to appear blue. They are descended from a man who moved to the Troublesome Creek area of Kentucky in 1820. Because of the remoteness and isolation, the people often intermarried, passing the blue color on to their children. Today it is easy to mask the blue skin color (they are perfectly healthy otherwise) but in 1936, superstition against anyone with blue skin causes them to isolate themselves. They are considered “coloreds” and in some ways face even worse discrimination than the African Americans. Some believe that the blue is an indication that they are possessed by the devil and try to “baptize” them (that is, drown them in the creek) to save them. Others are afraid to touch or be touched by a blue-skinned person, thinking that they will turn blue too.

There’s a lot going on in this book – the Pack Horse Library, the devastation that the Great Depression is causing, the local mine and its iron hold on its workers and the plight of the blue-skinned people of Kentucky, all based on fact. There’s almost too much going on toward the end which feels a little rushed, but that is a minor quibble. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a treasure trove of nearly forgotten historical facts, the power of books and friendship and the beauty of these wild, remote mountains. Highly recommended.