The Book Woman's Daughter by Richardson

THE BOOK WOMAN'S DAUGHTER by Kim Michele Richardson (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek) is set in rural Kentucky in 1953. The story centers around 16-year-old Honey Mary-Angeline Lovett whose parents are jailed due to the miscegenation laws prohibiting mixed race marriages. The local social worker wants to send Honey to reform school until she is 21, but Honey manages to ride her faithful mule named Junia into the next county and find family friends who help a lawyer establish guardianship. The adventures and hardships continue, however. I found it particularly moving to think about the plight of women and girls at that time (“Laws written by men don’t protect females much”) – especially with this week’s news from the Supreme Court. Richardson probes the hypocrisy of patriarchal, bigoted edicts which punish people for loving each other and which would allow Honey to become a child bride rather than grant her status as an independent person (“sure takes a lot of men to decide one li’l girl’s best interests”). In addition, she references Hallie Daggert, the first (1913) female fire lookout for the Forest Service, plus the plight of poor widows and abused wives, through empathetic characters (Pearl, Bonnie, and Guyla Belle) who become Honey’s friends. There is plenty of adventure and a bit of mystery woven into this excellent work of historical fiction. THE BOOK WOMAN'S DAUGHTER contains a book group guide and was chosen as a Library Reads selection this month.

Richardson’s characters clearly love books and at one point Honey reflects upon her mother’s work as a Pack Librarian for the WPA: “Mama always said, You grow readers, expand minds, if you let them choose, but you go banning a read, you stunt the whole community.” Please stop by the Library to see our display about banned books and the Freedom to Read.