The Book Woman's Daughter

When Honey wakes up the next morning, Pearl has already left for work. Honey has breakfast and goes into town. In the library, she finds the job ad still on the bulletin board and asks to apply. Honey has to wait for Miss Foster, the librarian in charge of hiring, to return from an errand. When Foster returns, Honey asks for the job, claiming she has her Mama’s permission. Foster checks on the status of other applicants and explains that the Pack Horse Library Project ended in 1943, but they got a grant to start it back up again.

Honey gets the job, they fill out paperwork, and Foster pins on her official name tag. Honey then goes to the Company store and buys an apple. The boy working the register talks with her about her name tag, introduces himself as Francis Moore, and gives her an apple for free. Honey finds him attractive and trips when he holds the door open for her as she exits. She feeds Junia the apple and rides into the woods. There, she jumps and yells in excitement.

When she gets back to the cabin, Honey encounters Devil John, Carson, and Mr. Morgan on the porch. They offer condolences for Retta’s passing, and Mr. Morgan talks to her about the legal consequences of Retta dying. He suggests marrying Carson to avoid going to the House of Reform, and Carson proposes. Honey worries about her hands causing issues with the “miscegenation laws,” and Devil John offers her some gloves to cover them. She reminds Carson about the girl he is seeing, Greta, and thinks about the boy she met at the store. Honey turns down the proposal and tells Mr. Morgan about her new job. He asks to speak with her in private.

Alone in the cabin, Mr. Morgan asks questions about Honey’s job and, hearing her answers, declares that it is honest work. Mr. Morgan is also impressed with how she handled Retta’s funeral when Alonzo went off drinking. Honey asks if Pearl could be her guardian, but Mr. Morgan says they need someone over 21. He says he will look into foster care, but Carson is still the best option for staying out of prison. She thinks that marrying someone she isn’t romantically interested in is not freedom. He says he’ll talk to some ministers.

Outside, on the porch, Carson says it would be great for Honey to be the book woman, and his offer of marriage is still on the table if she changes her mind. The men leave and Honey watches the sunset.

Honey looks at her Mama’s courting candle, an old method of timing dates from suitors, as well as an inscription from her Papa to her Mama in a book of Yeats’ poetry. She considers her parents’ relationship, contrasting it with child brides in Kentucky: “I couldn’t help thinking about how my papa would’ve set the candle for Carson, and I dared compare it to Francis, worried why fathers around these parts still did this to their daughters. Studied on why men decided it all” (129). Then, Honey turns her attention to the list of library patrons Miss Foster gave her and starts planning her route. The next morning, Honey begins her first day of work as a librarian. Honey and Junia arrive at the familiar library outpost (an old church), and Junia runs off again.

Honey chases after her and encounters Mr. Taft, another librarian, who has caught Junia. He was dropping off the books for her patrons and grabbed Junia, familiar with the mule through his professional relationship with Mama. Taft advises reading Tagore to soothe her feelings of loneliness. In addition to the books, Taft gives her a list from Miss Foster with a few more patrons. Before he leaves, he gives Honey a cookie for Junia with a recipe, advising her to use the cookies to keep Junia from running off.

After Taft’s departure, Honey looks at an old scrapbook her Mama made for patrons before the library had a decent lending collection. She thinks about the history of the Pack Horse Library Project, started in 1913 by the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs, and later funded by Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1934. Honey cleans the outpost and sorts the reading material Taft delivered, then looks over reading materials left in the church. In an old newspaper, she finds a story about a 14-year-old named Byrne McDaniel who was emancipated. Honey wonders if she could become emancipated.

When Honey returns to the cabin, there is a raccoon inside. After she, Junia, and the cat chase it off, Honey cleans up the mess it left behind. Then, she bakes cookies for Junia, reads through her old poetry, and writes a note for Taft asking for more poetry books.

The next morning, Honey’s route takes her to Devil John’s cabin. His wife, Martha Hannah, feeds Junia a carrot, and Carson asks if Honey brought him something to read. She says she forgot his book, and they talk about how he wants to marry his girlfriend next year if Honey doesn’t need help escaping prison.

Next, Honey visits Bonnie, the miner. Honey remembers Bonnie getting dressed up and doing her makeup, then Honey’s, when Honey would babysit for her on date nights between Bonnie and her late husband. Bonnie is happy to see that Honey is a book woman and apologizes for missing Retta’s funeral—she couldn’t get the time off work. As Bonnie looks through the books, Honey notices her hair is suddenly very short. Bonnie explains that her male coworkers held her down and cut it off in the mines. She is covered with bruises and cuts from fighting them. Honey offers to get the nurse, but Bonnie rejects the offer.

Bonnie then tells Honey that her boss told her to be more like another woman who works in the mines, Big Dessie. Dessie wears clothing that shows off her large breasts and is rumored to have slept with some miners. Bonnie does not want to behave like her. Bonnie’s coworkers touch her without consent and have torn her clothing in order to touch her more closely. She warns Honey about these men and talks about missing her late husband.

When Honey rests by a creek, she encounters two boys. They ask to be added to her book route, and she agrees. Junia and Honey hear shouting and ride towards the sound. A woman, Guyla Belle Gillis, tells Honey that her son has fallen in a well. The rope on the bucket won’t haul him up, but Honey remembers her Papa using his horse to get a dog out of a well. Guyla Belle gets another rope, which Honey ties to Junia and herself. She has Junia lower her into the well, and when she gets to the bottom, she picks up the boy. She tries to get Junia to pull her back up, but Junia doesn’t obey Guyla Belle, who hits her. Eventually, Junia pulls Honey and the child out of the well.

Guyla Bella thanks Honey, introduces herself, apologizes for hitting Junia with an apple, and gets Honey a towel and dry socks. When Honey gives them their books, the boy is frightened by her blue hands. Honey remembers the prejudice she encountered at a Knoxville restaurant due to her hands and Mama’s fully blue skin. Perry Gillis comes home, sees Honey’s hands, and calls her “one of them immoral Blues” (154). Honey denies being immoral, and Gillis yells at his wife for allowing Honey to use their towel, then kicks his lunch pail at Guyla Belle, cutting her. He demands that Guyla Belle take herself off the book route, but as Honey is leaving, Guyla Belle whispers to keep her on. She sets up a system to hide them from her husband. Gillis watches Honey with a gun until she is out of sight.

Honey visits Amara to deliver books. They confirm arrangements for Honey to ride with Amara the next day to see her folks in prison. Honey and Amara talk about romance books and magazines. Amara notices Honey’s blue skin, and Honey explains it is from methemoglobinemia, which is a condition the nurse has not heard of before. When she leaves, Honey decides to not tell her parents about Carson’s marriage proposal; instead, she will tell them about the article on emancipation.

Honey wakes up early the next day to meet Amara. It takes time to get there, as Honey must return home to drop off the cat that stowed away in her bags, and Junia must be coaxed with cookies into riding out again. When she arrives at Amara’s, Honey discovers that the boy she saved from the well, Johnnie, is there as a patient with pneumonia. Amara says she can’t leave him, and that they will have to go to the prison next week.

Gillis and Guyla Belle come to check on their son. Gillis gets upset that Honey is there. When the boy thanks Honey for saving him from the well, Gillis becomes even more upset and hits Guyla Belle, who falls into the bricks around the fireplace. Amara tells him to leave, and has Honey reach for her shotgun. Gillis insults Honey and orders Guyla Belle to take their son home and do the chores. After he leaves, Amara treats Guyla Belle’s wound. Despite Amara’s protests, Guyla Belle gathers up her son and leaves, blaming the mines for her husband’s behavior. Guyla Belle begs Honey to bring her books, promising to hide them. Honey agrees.

Honey asks Amara if there’s still time to visit her parents, but the visiting hours will be over by the time they drive over. Amara offers Honey breakfast, but she is too sad to eat and leaves on an equally sad Junia.

Honey rides into town and buys stamps at the post office in order to write to her parents in prison. Outside, Honey watches miners come out of the Company store. Francis follows Bonnie, his cousin, out, and she reveals her cut hair under her helmet. He becomes furious and threatens the miners, asking who did it. Bonnie’s coke bottle tumbles to the ground as Francis goes for the miners. He fights with Gillis, and Gillis tries to grab for the coke bottle shards, but Honey kicks them away from him. Men come out of the store and separate Gillis and Francis, ushering Francis inside.

As she is walking into the store, Gillis threatens Honey, saying he’ll get her fired and send the law after her if she brings any books to his wife. He grabs her hair and pulls some out when he pushes her away. Honey considers not bringing the books to Guyla Belle, but convinces herself bringing her the books is the right thing to do. Inside the store, Francis gives Honey change for the payphone. She asks him how to use it, and he explains in the booth.

As Francis waits outside the booth, Honey calls the operator and asks for the number to the prison. The operator connects the call, and Honey asks the woman who answers to speak to her Mama, Cussy Mary Lovett. The woman informs her that Cussy is in the infirmary and unavailable; Honey will have to talk to her lawyer for more information about Cussy’s condition. Francis notices her concern and she tells him she needs to get to Pewee Valley as soon as possible. He offers to take her on Monday. She thanks him, and tells him she needs to call Mr. Morgan. Before going back to work, Francis asks her out on a date. She tells him she needs to get her Papa’s permission to date.

Before calling Mr. Morgan, Honey overhears Gillis talking to his mother outside the booth. She plans to encourage Robbie to harass Pearl so Gillis can take her job, and tells Gillis to get rid of his wife. They leave the store; Honey is unable to reach Mr. Morgan on the phone. She considers calling her father, but someone else wants to use the phone. Honey leaves the store and sees Gillis harassing Wrenna, the girl with the pet rooster.

Honey heads to the doctor’s house, and his Swedish wife, Millie, answers the door. Once she learns that Honey is the book woman, she ushers Honey inside. Doc invites Honey to have dinner with them, and tells her it is okay to take off her gloves. Honey tells Doc what she learned on her phone call to the prison, and he goes to call the prison himself. After the phone call, he tells Honey that her mother was sterilized by court order, but they can visit her tomorrow. He suggests that she stay the night; Honey agrees but has to visit her cabin first.

At her cabin, Honey feeds the cat and packs some clothes along with books. She looks up emancipation in the dictionary and considers how to broach the topic with Mr. Morgan. On the way back to Doc’s house, Honey stops by to deliver a book—The Awakening—to Guyla Belle, seeing her signal (a dairy bottle on the well). Honey apologizes for forgetting the socks that Guyla Belle loaned her and says she will be back on Friday.

When Honey returns to his house, the doctor asks her to put Millie on her book route, explaining that she reads but doesn’t speak English. Honey is amazed by the guest bedroom and bath. In the morning, Millie has freshly laundered clothes for Honey, as well as breakfast and some food to take with her. Doc and Honey drive off to the prison.