I always like to share recommended reads of my longtime favorite Kentucky authors who wrote unforgettable masterpieces and inspired me. Harriette Simpson Arnow, John Fox Jr., Gwyn Hyman Rubio, Effie Waller Smith, Jesse Stuart, Alex Taylor, and Walter Tevis are just a few. Each one brings the pages to life with rich, evocative landscapes, beautifully told stories, and highly skilled prose.
I am a descendant of Gideon Dyer Cobb, and my cousin Kentuckian Irvin S. Cobb was a celebrated humorist, prolific author, renowned columnist, and reporter whose life and works I found fascinating. Irvin wrote more than sixty-four books and three hundred stories. You’ll find some of his books mentioned throughout my works to honor him.
A final note. I’m forever humbled and indebted to you, Dear Reader, for picking up The Book Woman’s Daughter. I hope you enjoyed reading my latest work as much as I loved writing it for you, and moreso, I pray it entertained and offered you a small respite away from the sadness and messy uncertainties we’ve all suffered during an exhausting COVID.
As always, my deepest gratitude to the generous, wise librarians and indie booksellers, the dedicated bookwomen and bookmen who work tirelessly to help place mine and other books into the hands and hearts of readers.
Images from the Pack Horse Library Project
Pack Horse librarian.
Natural Resources collection, Archives and Records Management Division—Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Lisa Thompson, Librarian II at Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.
Ted Wathen, President’s Commission on Coal, National Archives.
Used with permission from Ted Wathen.
Frontier Nursing Service.
Frontier Nursing Service （FNS）。 1930. Flahardy, Jason. Frontier Nursing Service photographs, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Frontier Nursing Service.
Frontier Nursing Service （FNS）。 1930. Flahardy, Jason. Frontier Nursing Service photographs, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Compiled by Ms. Cleda Wilson of Owsley County, Kentucky, in honor of her “Traveling Librarian” Mrs. Grace Marshall.
Historical Pack Horse Librarians’ Scrapbooks. Made by the Kentucky Pack Horse Librarians. Photographed at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library by Prof. Jason Vance of Middle Tennessee State University.
An animal-themed scrapbook compiled by the Kentucky Pack Horse Librarians, circa 1938.
Historical Pack Horse Librarians’ Scrapbooks. Made by the Kentucky Pack Horse Librarians. Photographed at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library by Prof. Jason Vance of Middle Tennessee State University.
A religious scrapbook compiled by the Kentucky Pack Horse Librarians, circa 1938.
Historical Pack Horse Librarians’ Scrapbooks. Made by the Kentucky Pack Horse Librarians. Photographed at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library by Prof. Jason Vance of Middle Tennessee State University.
Fire tower.
Matt Burton, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.
Architectural design for fire tower cab.
Putney Fire Tower, Kentucky. Natural Resources collection, Archives and Records Management Division—Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Lisa Thompson, Librarian II at Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.
Female fire tower lookout.
Forest History Society, Durham, NC.
Female fire tower lookout.
Forest History Society, Durham, NC.
Mary Breckinridge, founder of Frontier Nursing Service （FNS） of Kentucky in Eastern Kentucky, 1925.
Frontier Nursing Service （FNS） founder Mary Breckinridge. 1930. Flahardy, Jason., Frontier Nursing Service photographs, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.