Catherine Marshall
Christy (1967)
Author: Catherine Marshall
Genre: Literary/Christian (Life Tales)
Plot Summary:
Christy Rudd Huddleston volunteers to teach at a mission school in Cutter Gap, Kentucky, known as the Cove to its residents, in the Smoky Mountains. Upon arriving at the small mission, she discovers that the mountain people, while appearing backward in their ways, are often stronger in their faith in God and their families than Christy is herself. While teaching the children of Cutter Gap to read and write, the mountain folk teach Christy how to become closer to God. Along the way, she also finds herself drawn, romantically, to the mission's preacher, Rev. David Grantland, and to the Cove's only doctor, Neil McNeil. After battling through blind prejudice, family feuds, superstitions and poverty, Christy learns that the only way to help the people of the Cove is to first realize her true reasons for leaving home and to continue to teach even after she is forced to face many obstacles. Her realization of her true mission not only allows Christy to provide the services needed to the Cove, but to also decide the fate of her heart.
Geographical Setting: Cutter Gap, Kentucky; Great Smoky Mountains
Time Period: 1912
Appeal Characteristics:
Through the telling of her mother's experience, Catherine Marshall brings the characters of Cutter Gap to life. Now a mixture of fact and fiction, her ability to reconstruct their dialog and quaint mountain superstitions and customs allows the reader to lose themselves in the society. Although slow at times, the description of the mountains scenes and the people who reside within this small cove, make the story worth plodding through. Christy is a story that could no longer take place as almost every corner of America has been touched by the hand of progress and society, thus the story becomes even more poignant to the reader as they realize that many of the cultural traditions found within the Cove have been lost in the less than 100 years since the actions in this book took place. While sometimes lighthearted and sometimes serious, Marshall is able to perfectly capture her mother's struggle with her religion, her upbringing and her heart in such a way that will make the reader laugh and cry with the characters and long to visit Cutter Gap as it was then.
Read-alikes: If you like novels set in the Great Smoky Mountains in which a female protagonist shares her experiences, then you might try Fair and Tender Ladies (1988) by Lee Smith. Smith uses the letters of the fictitious Ivy Rowe to show the readers the changes that the Appalachian Mountains saw during the first seven decades of the 19th century. If, instead, you might like to see what hardships were placed upon the young men of mountain families, then try The Homecoming: a Novel about Spencer's Mountain (1970) by Earl Hamner. In this story, Hamner shows how the son of a mountain family must take on all of the responsibilities of the father when the father is away. If you would like to read another book about missionaries, you might try The Poisonwood Bible: a Novel (1998) by Barbara Kingsolver. While this book is set in the Belgian Congo, the family, of whom the father is an evangelical preacher and a missionary, is originally from Georgia. King
solver focuses her story on the effect of the Congo on the collective psyche of the family and the effect of the move on the relationships of the family. If you are interested in reading a Christian love story set in the Appalachian mountains, then I would suggest Kingdom Come (2001) by Diane Noble. Noble's protagonist, Doctor Sabrina St. Charles, returns to her hometown of Kingdom Come in order to fight the coal mining company that is ruining the area. In the process, she falls in love with a coal mining heir and must decide which is more important, the land or her heart. If you would like to read a story featuring a feud similar to those found in Christy, then you should pick up Beyond the Quiet Hills (1997) by Gilbert Morris and Aaron McCarver. This story focuses on two brothers who fall in love with the same woman and the family problems that arise from of this situation.
Red Flags: Mild Violence, Lapses of Faith, Superstitions
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