"Cussy Mary Carter is the last of her kind, her skin the color of a blue damselfly in these dusty hills. But that doesn't mean she's got nothing to offer. As a member of the Pack Horse Library Project, Cussy delivers books to the hill folk of Troublesome, hoping to spread learning in these desperate times. But not everyone is so keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and the hardscrabble Kentuckians are quick to blame a Blue for any trouble...

"The Mockingbird family has always lived peacefully in Jubilee, Kentucky, despite the divisions that mark their small town. Until the tense summer of 1963, when their youngest child, Isaac, falls gravely ill. Middle sister Grace, nearly fourteen, is determined to do whatever it takes to save her little brother. With her father and mother away at the hospital, Grace is left under the loving but inexperienced eye of her aunt June, with little to do...

Cora Mae Tipton knows every inch of Shadow Mountain. In the shade of the towering trees, amidst the thickets, streams, and smokehouses, the rhythm of life around her beloved holler hasn't much changed for generations, until now. For the first time, electrical power is coming to the rural communities of eastern Kentucky. Cora is determined to rally her community in support of electrification. But if she has any hope of succeeding, it's going to mean...