61 pages • 2 hours read
Kim Michele RichardsonThe Book Woman's Daughter
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This novel contains depictions of domestic abuse as well as discussions of racially motivated prejudice, sexual assault, and forced sterilization. This guide also quotes the use of “miscegenation” in the context of racially discriminatory laws and prejudice in the United States.
Chapter 1 begins in Thousandsticks, Kentucky in 1953. Sixteen-year-old Honey Mary-Angeline Lovett’s adoptive parents, Mama (Cussy Carter Lovett) and Papa, are sending her to Troublesome Creek. They are being persecuted for violating “miscegenation laws” because Mama has methemoglobinemia, a gene disorder that causes her skin to turn blue, and Papa is white. Honey reflects on air-raid drills from three years ago. She also thinks about being given her middle names: Mary after her adoptive mother’s middle name, and Angeline after her birth mother’s first name. Honey’s birth mother had the same condition as her adoptive mother, and died in childbirth. However, only Honey’s hands turn blue from methemoglobinemia.
Mama and Papa direct Honey to ride their mule—Junia—and go to Miss Loretta “Retta” Adams. They provide her with gloves to hide her blue hands, a gun, a key to her grandparents’ cabin (which is stocked with food), her poetry journal, and names of people to go to if she needs help (John “Devil John” Smith and Bob Morgan). They are sad to see Honey go, but hurry her off while a police officer sleeps in his car outside their cabin. Honey rides off, but turns to watch when she is a safe distance away. She sees the police officer break Mama’s arm, as well as hit, handcuff, and kick Papa. The officer puts Mama in the back of his car and looks around the woods, but doesn’t see Honey. She rides off safely.
Chapter 2 Summary
Honey rides Junia over 30 miles to arrive at Troublesome Creek, admiring nature and Mama’s pocket watch along the way. A former patron of Mama’s greets Honey, and she runs into Devil John. Honey thinks back on visiting Troublesome Creek in the past with Mama to tend the gravesites of their families while Papa traveled for his timber business. Devil John introduces Honey to Pearl, the new fire lookout, and asks Honey to show her to the watchtower on her way to Retta’s house.
On the way to the watchtower, 19-year-old Pearl tells Honey about her life in Somerset. She saw movies, hung out on Lake Cumberland, and went to school. Pearl also worked part-time as a fire lookout in Pulaski County. Honey lies, saying she’s 18, but tells her the truth about being homeschooled. Pearl sees her hands start to change color before Honey remembers to put her gloves back on.
A screeching bird upsets Junia, and Honey tries to lead Pearl’s horse in front of the mule. Junia attacks the horse, which rears and throws Honey nearly off the edge of the skinny mountain path. Pearl gets Junia’s reins to Honey and pulls her back up onto the path, but Honey loses a boot in the process. After Honey is safe, they laugh about the mule’s stubbornness, and Pearl gives her some slippers that immediately get ruined in the mud.
When they reach the fire tower, Pearl tells Honey about Hallie Daggett inspiring her to become a fire lookout. Then, Pearl shares how she beat out several men for the job with her eyesight, physical fitness, and experience. Honey is impressed. When they reach the top of the stairs, they find that someone sawed off the top few, making the trap door entrance unreachable. There is also a sexist message in red paint, telling Pearl to put on an apron and go back to the kitchen. Pearl, crying and cursing, guesses it was Robbie Hardin; she vows that she will stay. Honey offers to let Pearl stay in her grandparents’ cabin until the stairs are fixed, and she graciously agrees. They head out to find Honey’s boot.
Chapter 3 Summary
Once Honey finds her boot and gets off of Junia to put it on, Junia runs back towards Thousandsticks. Honey remembers Junia saving her from a snake and bears as a child. Pearl offers to carry Honey on her horse and asks if they can stop at Devil John’s, since she wants to keep him from taking her trunk to the vandalized watchtower. Devil John is out on moonshine business, and his wife—Martha Hannah—offers the young women supper. Honey refuses, and tells her about Junia running off. Martha asserts that Junia is back in Thousandsticks, and sends one of her children to get Devil John and send him that way.
They ride back to Thousandsticks, but Mama and Papa are not there. Junia whinnies outside the cabin. As it starts snowing, Honey sees Papa’s truck, but not his horse, and realizes she is not safe at the cabin.
Chapter 4 Summary
Trapped by the snow, Pearl and Honey stay in the cabin. Pearl treats the wounds Honey got on the mountain, and Honey tells her about methemoglobinemia and her parents’ arrest. They discuss how the old preacher in Troublesome persecuted various individuals for physical differences. Pearl is supportive of Honey and her family’s plight.
They have dinner and Pearl tells her how both her mother and her father worked in a factory, and Honey, shocked, assumes Pearl is wealthy. Pearl describes television shows to Honey, who has only seen pictures of televisions. Afterward, Honey silently cries herself to sleep. They stay in the cabin for a second night, due to the weather. Once the snow stops the next morning, they prepare to leave, but Pearl’s horse has trouble with a hoof and shoe. This delays them until noon.
Automobiles approach the cabin. Honey admits that she lied about her age to Pearl and expresses her concerns about being taken by the police. Pearl tries to convince her that she won’t be taken, and Honey puts on her gloves to hide her blue hands. She hears someone approaching from the woods.
Chapter 5 Summary
Devil John comes to the cabin through the woods on horseback with a gun. The sheriff and a social worker get out of the cars, and Junia starts kicking and biting. Honey holds her back while Devil John introduces himself as John Smith to the sheriff and asks what his business is. The woman introduces herself as Mrs. Geraldine Wallace, explains that both of Honey’s parents have been imprisoned for two years, and says she’s here to take Honey to the Kentucky House of Reform (a juvenile prison). Geraldine calls Honey “it” (40), and Honey fears she will be taken. Junia passes gas, which causes the sheriff and social worker to back away from Honey.
Devil John claims that Pearl and Honey are his daughters. When asked for proof, he tells them they will have to ride the 30 miles back to his holler to talk to his wife. Carson, Devil John’s son, arrives, saying the baby is ill and needs his help. The sheriff asks Carson for the names of the girls. Honey is concerned he’ll give her away. She would have to flee on Junia and risk getting shot. However, Carson confirms Devil John’s story and pretends they are his sisters. The sheriff determines that Honey has escaped to West Virginia and gets back in his car. Geraldine stares at Honey and Pearl, and Honey holds her gaze.
Chapter 6 Summary
After the social worker leaves, Devil John tells Honey that a family friend is looking after Papa’s horse. He explains that Bob Morgan is going to represent her in court, and that Retta is trying to get custody. Honey explains how Junia brought them back to Thousandsticks. Then, Devil John praises Carson’s intervention, even though he was supposed to only stand out of sight and listen. Honey thanks everyone and Pearl says she considers Honey a sister, which pleases Honey. They head off to Honey’s grandparents’ cabin.
Chapter 7 Summary
Honey and Pearl arrive at the cabin in Troublesome Creek. In the cellar, Honey marvels at how much food her family has stocked. She gets out a jar of stew for supper and plans their breakfast: ham, gravy, biscuits, and smoked apples. The young women have peach leather candy strips as well. Pearl looks glum, and Honey offers to get her some books from the library the next day.
At the library, Honey looks over the ads on the bulletin board, including one for a librarian job that she hopes to apply for in the future. When Honey looks through the books, a librarian suggests Ray Bradbury. She selects the short story collection, as well as some novels, and gets some newspapers (which Pearl requested). Honey notices a woman in a low-cut dress on the cover of Life magazine, which she calls an “excitement read” (52), and feels like someone might object to her reading it. However, the librarian, Miss Foster, does not notice it in the stack of books. Miss Foster asks Honey to come to her office. This makes Honey anxious, but she learns that the librarian has ordered some poetry books for her, including one by Ezra Pound.
Outside, Honey runs into Devil John, whose horse is at the farrier for a thrown shoe. He tells her that Mr. Morgan got her a court date about custody in about a week. Devil John, as a moonshiner, says he doesn’t want to hurt her case by going to court with her, but will be waiting outside while she is there. Devil John also gives Honey Mr. Morgan’s phone number. She heads off to Retta’s place.
Chapter 8 Summary
Honey worries if Retta will be willing to be her guardian. Retta is working on a quilt when Honey arrives and hugs her. They talk about the custody case, and Honey offers to pay rent. Retta refuses payment, calling Honey family, and says she’ll be in court for the hearing the following week. Honey helps Retta make dinner and they talk about the Pack Horse librarian job posting Honey saw in the library. Honey offers to read some poetry to Retta, but Retta claims to only read the Bible.
Honey looks over at the children’s books on the shelf that Retta ordered for her. Retta admits children should read nursery rhymes and other books along with the Bible. Honey remembers her childhood dreams of being a Pack Horse librarian, quilts for a while, and then starts reading a book of poetry.
Chapters 1-8 Analysis
The first section of The Book Woman’s Daughter introduces the main character, Honey, as well as the themes that run through the novel: Othering and Sexism in Rural Kentucky, The Role of Female Friendship, and The Function of Books. Honey is the first-person narrator of the novel, so all events are seen through her perspective. She suffers from a condition called methemoglobinemia, which causes her hands and feet to turn blue when she experiences heightened emotions. Her adoptive parents, referred to as Mama (the original Book Woman from the first book in Richardson’s series) and Papa, make gloves for Honey to “hide [her] blue skin” (6). This is one way Honey’s family and friends combat Othering and Sexism in Rural Kentucky. “Othering” is the negative treatment of a person, or a group of people, which stems from viewing them as an outsider. Othering is closely linked to discrimination and is often based on features like race, age, disability, or sexuality.
“Blues,” as they are called in the novel, are seen as non-white due to their skin color. This means that they are bound by the racially discriminatory laws that existed in 1950s Kentucky, and subject to prejudice that echoes the real-life racism typical of the era. Honey’s Mama warns that it “[d]on’t take much for a Blue” to get into trouble (37), not unlike the treatment people of color faced back then—and still face in the 21st century. When the social worker Mrs. Wallace shows up in Chapter 5, eager to take Honey to juvenile prison, she calls Honey “it,” a blatant act of dehumanization. Honey’s parents teach her to hide her hands in public to protect her from discrimination, both from racist people in her community and prejudiced law enforcement.
The theme of Othering and Sexism in Rural Kentucky is developed with the motif of nature. Honey says, “Mama had insisted on teaching me about nature […] It was a necessity, a means of survival for all Kentucky folk, but especially for us Blues” (13). The lessons Honey learned from Mama include making medicines from plants, knowing what plants are safe to eat, and being able to navigate and hide in mountainous territory (or hollers). Because Honey and her family are treated as “other,” they cannot reliably trust the law or the community to protect them. Caring for themselves is a matter of survival.
Animals also aid Honey in combating Othering and Sexism in Rural Kentucky. In this section, the mule Junia (named after a female apostle) farts at a social worker and the sheriff, which prevents them from physically grabbing Honey (41). This creates an opportunity for Devil John to claim that Honey is his own daughter, saving her from the Kentucky House of Reform. This passing of gas is mentioned again at the end of the book, when Honey encounters these individuals again in her emancipation hearing.
This first section introduces Honey’s closest friend, a young woman named Pearl. When the law threatens Honey, Pearl demonstrates one Role of Female Friendship by saying she is “prepared to mete out trouble to protect another troublesome woman [...] a sister in these old hills” (47). Women have to look out for one another due to the sexism they face in Appalachia. When helping out the young women—sisters, as Pearl insists—Martha Hannah, Devil John’s wife, says, “We take care of our Kentucky Daughters” (30). Honey is immediately friendly with Pearl once she learns that Pearl “[loves] the books” (15). This connects The Role of Female Friendship with the primary theme of the novel, The Function of Books.
There are many functions of books highlighted in the novel. Books are education: Devil John says, “Cussy [Honey’s Mama] and her books is what did that for us and a lot of folk” (46). This quote refers to how reading improved the intelligence of many people in the Troublesome Creek community, growing their various opportunities. Another Function of Books is to improve one’s mood. When Honey sees that Pearl is upset, she thinks, “a book would carry her away from any gloom” (49). Honey also believes that books are a form of salvation: “Books’ll save you” (58), she thinks in Chapter 8, as she keenly feels the loss of her adoptive parents. In the end, her job as a Pack Horse librarian (riding a mule the judge recognizes as her mother’s) is an important factor in being granted emancipation by the court. Books quite literally save her from the Kentucky House of Reform.
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By Kim Michele Richardson
