The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson – 320 pages
ARC from Sourcebook Landmark and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson: In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good.
Picking up her mother’s old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn’t need anyone telling her how to survive, but the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren’t as keen to let a woman pave her own way. If Honey wants to bring the freedom that books provide to the families who need it most, she’s going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world.
My Review: 4 stars
The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson was a welcome and much anticipated read as I was missing the characters from The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I was delighted to be back in the Kentucky mountains and learn the fate of the Lovett family.
This story has Honey following in her mother’s footsteps as a packhorse librarian, yet the circumstances are different. When her parents are taken to prison because of the archaic miscegenation laws preventing mixed marriage, Honey, at just sixteen, is left alone to fend for herself. Like her birth parents, and Cussy Mary who adopted her, Honey has Kentucky blue running through her blood, so she faces arduous injustices and prejudices.
With her parents in prison, and Honey being underage, she must prove herself independent to live alone. With the help of Pearl – her new fire tower scout, Doc, Mr. Morgan, Devil John and other kind folks in town, she finds her way until the hopeful release. There are many themes running through this book: racial prejudice, misogyny, abuse, the power of books, feminism and family.
This book is different enough to stand alone and for sure can be read as such, however, I do think it’s best read after reading its predecessor, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.
Quotes I liked:
Though Mama and I were the last of the Blues, the very last of our kind, and different from others, the books united every one of us.”
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