NCW Libraries

"Cussy Mary Carter is the last of her kind, her skin the color of a blue damselfly in these dusty hills. But that doesn't mean she's got nothing to offer. As a member of the Pack Horse Library Project, Cussy delivers books to the hill folk of Troublesome, hoping to spread learning in these desperate times. But not everyone is so keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and the hardscrabble Kentuckians are quick to blame a Blue for any trouble...

"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...

"Addie Cowherd dreamt of being a novelist and offering readers the escape that books gave her during her tragic childhood. But it's the Great Depression, and when her adoptive father loses his job, Addie is forced to leave college and take the only employment she can find: delivering books on horseback to poor coal mining families in the hills of Kentucky. The community of Boone's Hollow is suspicious of outsiders and steeped in superstitions that...