A review by 13iscute
Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains by Cassie Chambers

5.0

2022 Reading Challenges
• ATY #43 A book set in a small town or rural area
• Ladies First #17 A book written by a woman with women on the cover

How I selected this book
Recommended by the Reading Women podcast, and I meant to read it while I was living in Kentucky, but got to it a little late.

Plot summary
The author's mother's family grew up in Owsley County, KY, 50 miles east of Berea. She herself grew up in Berea, where her parents went to college, but spent a lot of time with her family in Owsley County. She describes her family's life and challenges in the mountain, and fondly remembers the women in her life, especially her grandmother and her Aunt Ruth.

Final thoughts
I really loved reading this, but maybe just because I related to the author so much, as we have a lot in common! First, I was excited to find the author grew up in Berea, one of my favorite towns in KY.

Spoiler

But, her later life really paralleled mine, and weird to think that I could have met her or at least seen her. We were born in the same year. She grew up in Kentucky, but when she was a senior, she went away to a boarding school (in New Mexico), for two years, which helped prepared her for college at Wellesley, where on the weekends she would get on the bus to come hang out at Harvard.