Kate’s 2¢: “Hill women: finding family and a way forward in the Appalachian Mountains” by Cassie Chambers

“Hill women: finding family and a way forward in the Appalachian Mountains” by Cassie Chambers

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

As I read Chambers’s auto-biography, where she high-lights the strong men and, especially women in her life, I felt like I was reading about the early 1920  and 1930’s, (Perhaps, because I’d read  “The Giver of Stars” by Jojo Moyes.) until I would be brought up straight when Chambers would refer to the 1990’s and 2000’s.

The first two-thirds or so of this book presents a powerful portrait of a young woman very determined to pull herself from mountain poverty into one prestigious school after another in the pursuit of becoming a lawyer to help the people of her root community, but, the last part dissolves into political stumping.

In the end, Chambers grew and changed, but she’ll always remember the hills she came from, especially the strong hill women who helped shaped her, with her Mother at the top of the list.

I like to hear the author reading her own auto-biography. Now I know how to authentically pronounce Appalachian Mountains: appa-latch-in, not appa-lay-chin.

From her website:

After rising from poverty to earn two Ivy League degrees, an Appalachian lawyer pays tribute to the strong “hill women” who raised and inspired her, and whose values have the potential to rejuvenate a struggling region—an uplifting and eye-opening memoir for readers of Hillbilly Elegy and Educated.

Nestled in the Appalachian mountains, Owsley County is one of the poorest counties in both Kentucky and the country. Buildings are crumbling and fields sit vacant, as tobacco farming and coal mining decline. But strong women are finding creative ways to subsist in their hollers in the hills.

Cassie Chambers grew up in these hollers and, through the women who raised her, she traces her own path out of and back into the Kentucky mountains. Chambers’s Granny was a child bride who rose before dawn every morning to raise seven children. Despite her poverty, she wouldn’t hesitate to give the last bite of pie or vegetables from her garden to a struggling neighbor. Her two daughters took very different paths: strong-willed Ruth—the hardest-working tobacco farmer in the county—stayed on the family farm, while spirited Wilma—the sixth child—became the first in the family to graduate from high school, then moved an hour away for college. Married at nineteen and pregnant with Cassie a few months later, Wilma beat the odds to finish school. She raised her daughter to think she could move mountains, like the ones that kept her safe but also isolated her from the larger world.

Cassie would spend much of her childhood with Granny and Ruth in the hills of Owsley County, both while Wilma was in college and after. With her “hill women” values guiding her, Cassie went on to graduate from Harvard Law. But while the Ivy League gave her knowledge and opportunities, its privileged world felt far from her reality, and she moved back home to help her fellow rural Kentucky women by providing free legal services.

Appalachian women face issues that are all too common: domestic violence, the opioid crisis, a world that seems more divided by the day. But they are also community leaders, keeping their towns together in the face of a system that continually fails them. With nuance and heart, Chambers uses these women’s stories paired with her own journey to break down the myth of the hillbilly and illuminate a region whose poor communities, especially women, can lead it into the future.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Hill women: finding family and a way forward in the Appalachian Mountains DB97966

Chambers, Cassie. Reading time: 7 hours, 33 minutes.

Read by Cassie Chambers.

Biography

Drawing on her own journey as well as those of her fellow women from the Kentucky Appalachians, the author paints a portrait of life in that region. Discusses child marriage, young motherhood, subsistence farming, education, domestic violence, poverty, the opioid crisis, and community leadership. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: April 12, 2020

Download Hill women: finding family and a way forward in the Appalachian Mountains

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The giver of stars DB96907

Moyes, Jojo. Reading time: 13 hours, 54 minutes.

Read by Julia Whelan.

Historical Fiction; Romance

1937. Alice Van Cleve is still trying to adjust to married life and living in Kentucky after being raised in England. When offered the chance to join a group of women to deliver Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, she jumps at it. But they face dangers. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.