The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson

During the Great Depression, the U.S. government sought ways not only to provide employment but also to lift the spirits of a weary nation. Out of this effort came the Works Progress Administration and, with it, the Pack Horse Library initiative. In the remote hills of Kentucky, women were employed to deliver books on horseback to families living in isolation. These “book women” rode miles through rugged terrain with saddlebags filled with stories, recipes, magazines, and scrapbooks of clippings. It was an imaginative response to crisis — work that fed minds and hearts as well as families.

Kim Michele Richardson honours this history in a pair of novels. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek introduced readers to Cussy Mary Carter, one of the first packhorse librarians and a member of the little-known “Blue People of Kentucky.” Now, in the sequel The Book Woman’s Daughter, we meet Honey Lovett, Cussy Mary’s daughter, who must navigate her own path in a community still marked by prejudice and hardship.

Honey inherits her mother’s strength and determination, but she also carries her mother’s legacy of difference — and the suspicion that comes with it. In her story, Richardson explores what it means for a new generation to seek belonging in a world that too often resists change. Honey’s journey is not only about survival but about carrying forward the belief that knowledge, kindness, and empathy can outlast fear and cruelty.

At its core, The Book Woman’s Daughter continues the themes of the determination and resilience. The packhorse librarians carried more than books; they carried hope and connection. Through Honey Lovett’s eyes, we see how courage and compassion pass from one generation to the next, and how embracing diversity is essential to building a more humane world.

Richardson’s storytelling honours history and honours the people who lived it. By revisiting the struggles and triumphs of the 1930s, she reminds us that diversity is not a barrier to overcome but a gift to embrace. The book women carried more than pages; they carried hope. Their rides echo forward to us today, reminding us that literature is a bridge and that empathy is the only true foundation for belonging.

My Takeaways

My greatest takeaway from The Book Woman’s Daughter is that resilience is not only lived in one lifetime — it is handed down, like stories themselves. Honey Lovett’s journey reminds us that empathy is learned and relearned, that differences are not burdens but gifts, and that history still whispers through the pages of fiction. Richardson’s sequel is a call to embrace the beauty of diversity and to carry forward the hope that books and belonging can bring.

Until the next page turns…

Rebecca

Postscript: Kim Michele Richardson writes with a calling born of her own lived experience. Growing up in rural Kentucky amid poverty, orphanages, and foster care, she learned early the power of books to sustain hope. She recalls a librarian once placing a sack of books into her hands — an act of generosity that became a lifeline. It is no wonder that her novels return again and again to the quiet heroism of libraries and the resilience of overlooked communities.

Richardson has said she nearly stopped writing after The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, but readers’ letters and the encouragement of her husband persuaded her to continue. “You must write the stories to honor your Kentucky people,” he told her. And so she did. Her work is not only fiction — it is preservation, a way of lifting up forgotten histories and honouring the women who carried courage through mountains, storms, and prejudice.

Her empathy runs deep because she knows what it is to endure. Through her characters, she reminds us that the stories of the past enrich our lives today, shaping our sense of belonging, compassion, and courage for the future.

#BooksThatWalkedBesideMe #FictionSalon #HistoricalFiction #Kentucky #KimMichelRichardson #OnTheRoadBookClub #PackHorseLibrary #TheBookWomanOfTroublesomeCreek #TheBookWomanSDaughter #TheGreatDepression

Speak Flowers and Fans by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Speak Flowers and Fans – a Dictionary of Floriography and Fanology by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Every once in a while, a book arrives that feels less like reading and more like being invited into a conversation with imagination itself. Teagan Riordain Geneviene’s Speak Flowers and Fans: A Dictionary of Floriography and Fanology is just that kind of book — one that enchants, teaches, and lingers.

Teagan has always had a gift for creating worlds where the whimsical and the profound walk hand in hand. In Speak Flowers and Fans, she takes us back to the lost languages of floriography and fanology, where a flower or a gesture with a fan could communicate what words dared not. It is both playful and deeply human — a reminder that creativity finds its way into the smallest details of our lives, even into the silent messages of petals and silk.

As I turned the pages, I felt as though I were gathering secret notes from another time, yet the messages still feel relevant today. Flowers, fans, and symbolism become bridges, connecting us to emotion, memory, and possibility. Teagan’s imagination makes these connections vivid and irresistible.

This is not just a book to read once and shelve. It is a book to return to, to dip into when you want to be inspired, or when you need to remember that creativity is not bound by words alone. It can be carried by colour, shape, gesture, or even silence.

For me, Speak Flowers and Fans was a reminder of why we read: not only to escape, but to rediscover how extraordinary the ordinary can be when we look closely.

My Takeaway:

Teagan’s work embodies the joy of creation — bold, imaginative, and life-affirming. This book is a celebration of how symbols carry meaning, and how creativity opens up new languages to us.

Thank you, Teagan, for sharing this imaginative treasury. I know I’ll return to it often.

Rebecca

#Communication #Fanology #Floriography #InTheCompanyOfBooks #OnTheRoadBookClub #SpeakFlowersAndFans #TeaganRíordáinGeneviene

Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier

“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”

Pascal Mercier, Night Train to Lisbon

It was this single sentence that drew me to Night Train to Lisbon several years ago. I don’t remember where I first read it—perhaps in a magazine article or on a well-loved bookmark—but I do remember stopping mid-stride, reading it again, and feeling as though it had been written for me. That quiet truth—that we are shaped by places we have touched, and that they continue to live within us—was an invitation I couldn’t resist. I knew I had to find the book behind the words.

Pascal Mercier’s novel tells the story of Raimund Gregorius, a quiet Swiss classics teacher whose life has been one of routine and predictability. A chance encounter with a mysterious woman and a book of philosophical writings by Amadeu de Prado stirs something long dormant in him. Without warning, Gregorius leaves his work, his students, and his familiar world behind to board a night train to Lisbon in search of the man behind the words.

This is not a novel of fast-moving plot, but of slow, profound shifts. Through Prado’s reflections, Mercier invites us to linger on questions that surface more insistently as we reach the middle of life: Have I lived the life I wanted? What remains unspoken or undone? Who might I have become if I had taken another path?

For readers in midlife, Gregorius’s journey resonates because it is both literal and symbolic. It speaks to the restlessness that can arrive after decades of following a certain course—when the need for meaning and authenticity grows stronger than the comfort of the known. Gregorius’s leap into the unknown is not reckless but deliberate, an act of quiet rebellion against a life that no longer fits.

Reading Night Train to Lisbon felt like walking through a city at dusk—moments of light and beauty giving way to stretches of shadow and mystery. Lisbon itself becomes a character in the story, holding echoes of the past and hints of who Gregorius might still become.

My Takeaways

Night Train to Lisbon reminded me that our lives are not fixed, no matter how far along the path we think we are. At any moment, a single encounter, a single sentence, can open a door we didn’t know was there.

Midlife often brings the illusion that most choices have already been made. This book challenges that idea. It whispers that there are still untold stories, untraveled roads, and unspoken truths waiting if we are willing to listen.

And perhaps most powerfully, it reassures us that leaving behind the familiar isn’t always loss—it can be a return. Not only to forgotten places, but to forgotten parts of ourselves.

It also reminded me that our words, once set free into the world, have lives of their own. Whether spoken, written, or shared in passing, they travel to places we may never see, touching people we may never meet. Sometimes they comfort; sometimes they provoke; sometimes they inspire someone to take a momentous step into their own unknown. In that way, we all leave parts of ourselves scattered across the world—waiting to be found.

Until the next page,

Rebecca

P.S. This book returned to me recently after I watched the film adaptation of Pascal Mercier’s Night Train to Lisbon, starring Jeremy Irons, a couple of weeks ago. It reminded me how powerfully stories circle back to us when we least expect them, carrying the same questions but offering new answers with each return.

https://youtu.be/9Ds5L7qS85s

#BooksThatWalkedBesideMe #FictionSalon #LiteraryFiction #NightTrainToLisbon #OnTheRoadBookClub #PascalMercier

A New Chapter for On The Road Book Club

OnTheRoad Book Club embarked on its literary journey on January 5, 2011 with the poignant words, “We are on the road for most of our life…”

Today marks an exciting new chapter for OnTheRoad Book Club as it bids farewell to its previous location and welcomes book enthusiasts to its new space in Rebecca’s Reading Room. This transition signifies a continuation of the vibrant discussions, shared insights, and vibrant stories that have enriched me over the years.

Welcome to the New OnTheRoad Book Club Space in My Reading Room

As I reflect back over the years, I am reminded of the profound impact of literature and the connections forged through the love of books.

I am thrilled to announce the opening of the new OnTheRoad Book Club chapter in Rebecca’s Reading Room! Welcome to all book enthusiasts to this new space dedicated to the profound impact of literature and the connections fostered through the love of books.

May the love of literature bind us in friendship and knowledge.

“We are on the road for most of our life, whether in the car, on a plane (jet), bus, or sky-train.   We use bikes, skies, snowboards, skateboards, and roller blades to get us from point A to point B.  And when we want to get into shape, we use our feet to propel us along the trail.  My book club seems to always been on the road.  We use travel time, to go places through books:  ancient Egypt, K2, New York and Easter Island.”

Rebecca Budd

The Story of On The Road

Books are a source of inspiration, knowledge, information, and entertainment.  Book clubs are a way in which people can share the joy of reading, debate the issues, and find common ground.  Technology has given enormous advantages, which has made our reading even more productive and efficient.  Chapters, Amazon, indie book stores. and our public library have treasures yet to be read.  I started On the Road Book Club blog in 2011 to commemorate the joy and adventure found in reading.

Over the years, I have read outstanding works of fiction that carried me into the early hours of the morning – I couldn’t put them down. Now, I have added non-fiction books to my reading lists because they set out to examine and consider historical events, scientific endeavours and social and cultural transitions. These narratives celebrate our courage and ingenuity, recount our despair and tragedies and restore our optimism and confidence.

Thank you to those authors for their diligence and attention to detail. Indeed, I have come to appreciate the enormity of research and the multi-disciplinary approach demonstrated in fiction and non-fiction writings.

On the Road continues to be a record of my reading experiences and personal observations.  There is always a story to be read, an adventure to be imagined, and an idea to be understood.  Words give meaning to the present while expressing the universal hopes and aspirations of humanity, past and future. 

Gertrude Stein once said, “A masterpiece…may be unwelcome but it is never dull.”   For me, books that challenge my “status quo” and test my firmly held beliefs may be uncomfortable, but they are anything but boring.  The bond between writer and reader gives relevance to the exchange.  My goal is to understand the message in the spirit in which it was given and to embrace the diversity of accepted wisdom.

In the end, it is about connecting with others, whether they live in our century or 2500 years ago.

Rebecca

“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”

Chaim Potok

https://rebeccasreadingroom.ca/2024/03/21/a-new-chapter-for-on-the-road-book-club/

#Milestones #OnTheRoadBookClub #Reading #Transitions