Kim Richardson humanizes the Blue Fugates of Kentucky with her fictional take on a brave girl who becomes a pack horse librarian. For having blue skin, she is shunned, yet she succeeds in becoming a “book woman” and wins over the hill people on her route.
Cussy Mary or Bluet as she is called just wants to do her job, yet a preacher aims to stop her. His actions result in a series of catastrophic events and forces Bluet to participate in Doc’s scientific studies of her blue skin.
Though she tried to become white, some refuse to accept her. A few of the hill people, however, recognize her value. Angeline is the first to do this privately and later Jackson will take a more public stand.
Richardson writes about the marginalized–the Blues, the African Americans, the hill people–and their struggles to rise above bigotry. More than that though, this a warm, entertaining story that will have readers cheering.
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