The Mountains We Call Home by Kim Michele Richardson

“As the years passed, we barely spoke of the mountains we call home.

Spoken even rarer these days, but always there, the longing could not stay silenced.”

- Cussy, The Mountains We Call Home

The Mountains We Call Home is the third installment in Kim Michele Richardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek series. The novel takes place between the early 1950’s and the late 1960’s. Cussy, a Pack Horse Librarian in the mountains of Kentucky, lives with a genetic condition called methemoglobinemia that makes her skin blue. Her community ostracizes her and, after an abusive first marriage that left her a widow, she finds love with Jackson. The day they were married the sheriff ripped up their marriage license and put Jackson in jail. The novel opens with Cussy and her husband both being arrested this time and sent to prison for violating miscegenation laws - interracial marriage. This act provides the major angst of the story.

Cussy is considered a person of color and therefore treated as such while in prison and after her release. Despite some harsh treatment from her fellow inmates, Cussy perseveres and eventually is able to use the skills she learned as a book woman within the prison library. Several months into her 18 month sentence, she makes a discovery which leads the prison warden to make a horrifying decision. Given a temporary reprieve from the outcome, Cussy is ‘loaned’ out as a visiting librarian to the Louisville Western Colored Branch of the Carnegie Library, the first black patrons library in the country. During her time working with the head librarian, Cussy is amazed at how unfazed the black community is by her blue color and understands the similarities they share because of their skin colors. When she and Jackson are eventually reunited, they make their way to Detroit and try to reconcile living in working class industrial city with their innate sense of who they are.

This is a love story on two levels, The first is the love between Cussy and Jackson, the cruel acts they suffer, and the sacrifices they make to be together. The second love story is the love of books and the power of literacy - how it can improve one’s sense of self-worth, provide better economic opportunities, and build community. Reading provides the mind some relief from situations and emotions that are hard to handle as evidenced by Cussy’s literacy efforts in the prison.

The supporting characters are just as wonderfully drawn as Cussy and Jackson. They show a quiet strength, determination to do what is hard but right, and act as pseudo mothers and mentors for Cussy.

The author tackled some difficult topics straight on, realistically and tastefully. One of the things I love about historical fiction is learning new pieces of history - for example the Louisville Western Colored Branch of the Carnegie Library, and West Walnut Street in Louisville, KY. Reading the notes that follow the story, it is clear Ms. Richardson did a tremendous amount of research to ensure that not only the events but the characters were authentic to the time.

While it can be read as a standalone, the reader will have more background and a much deeper investment if they have read the previous works. It is well worth a reader’s time to read the first two books as they do not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmark. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.