Publisher: Ballantine Books (Random House Publishing)
Release Date: January 7, 2020
Genre: Biography Memoir
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.
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.
My Review 🖤
Though a lot of the novel is about Cassie's life what tugged at my heart was Cassie's grandmother and her aunt, Ruth. I grew up poor myself, but I can't even imagine the abject poverty and remoteness they faced. I love that Appalachian women believe in the value of hard work and this trait continues to be passed down from generation to generation. The first part of Hill Women was great! I loved hearing the backstory very much, and commend Cassie for fighting for the education that she sought, but the stories from her school days were tough to get through and I believe it's because Cassie wrote it like a lawyer, and this style tends to be dry for me.
Although I did not enjoy this novel, I do believe the stories of the Appalachian Hill Women are tales that deserve to be told, and I commend Cassie for starting the conversation about this area and its unknown inhabitants, and for being brave enough to tell her own story. Everyone's story deserves to be told.
My Rating: ★★★
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chambers then received a Skadden Fellowship to return to Kentucky to do legal work with domestic violence survivors. In 2018, she helped pass Jeanette's Law, which eliminated the requirement that domestic violence survivors pay an incarcerated spouse's legal fees in order to get a divorce.
She lives in Louisville with her husband and their son.
*I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Random House Publishing-Ballantine Books through NetGalley. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.
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