By 
Kim Michele Richardson
Kim Michele Richardson is the author of several books.
About Kim Michele
Kim Michele Richardson is a bestselling author who lives in Kentucky. She’s an advocate for the prevention of child and domestic abuse and the author of the bestselling memoir The Unbreakable Child, a book critic for the New York Journal of Books, and the founder of Shy Rabbit, a writers residency scholarship. Her novels include Liar’s Bench, GodPretty in the Tobacco Field and The Sisters of Glass Ferry. Kim Michele’s latest novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is inspired by the historical blue people of Kentucky and the fierce and brave Kentucky Packhorse librarians.
About the Writing
I love exploring my birthplace in my writings; the beautiful, brutal and mysterious Kentucky land and its people. I have traveled to mostly every corner and nook of Kentucky and am always searching for another cranny to discover. I impart my novels with my fierce love for the land, showcase its intriguing people, history, and forgotten song of the region, exploring historical social injustices and the unusual and cherished traditions, myths and legends of Kentucky. More than anything, I write human stories set in a unique landscape. Knowing one small piece of this world, the earth, the sky, the plants, the people and the very air of it—helps us understand the sufferings and joys of others —ourselves.
I visited the backwoods and rural areas of Western Kentucky in Liar’s Bench with a town’s bench made from the 100-year-old gallows of a female slave. Then in GodPretty I explored Appalachia, its darkly coal rich mountains and the hardscrabble and oppressed women of Eastern Kentucky in this Coalminer’s Daughter meets Winter’s Bone tale. Spanning the 30s to present-day, The Sisters of Glass Ferry, is a haunting tale of love and loss, redemption and atonement, and the dark secrets surrounding a 1952 prom night when two teens go missing in rural Kentucky.
My latest novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, delves into the Pack Horse Library Project of 1935 and the factual blue people of eastern Kentucky. It’s a fascinating story, one I feel privileged to write—a tale of tribute to the fearsome librarians who traveled on horseback and mule to provide books to the poor and isolated communities in Kentucky. In stores, May 7th, 2019, Sourcebooks, Landmark
You’ll find all my books carry Discussion Guides inside and are perfect for Book Clubs and schools. Also, all my books are available at brick and mortar stores, and online, as well, your library. Audio is available through Blackstone Publishing and can be purchased at
Libro.fm and wherever books are sold.
This is “Shy Rabbit” Kim Michele has built a tiny home in Kentucky to create a writers/artist residency named Shy Rabbit.
Linda's Book Obsession: 
I enjoyed the novel. I hadn’t known about the “blue people” or the horseback librarians. I love novels that also teach me something! Thanks for sharing this information about the author and Shy Rabbit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Janet. XO
LikeLike