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CATHERINE MARSHALL
Age Range: 16 and up
Reading Level: High School and Adult
The train taking nineteen-year-old teacher Christy Huddleston from her home in Asheville, North Carolina, might as well be transporting her to another world. The Smoky Mountain community of Cutter Gap feels suspended in time, trapped by poverty, superstitions, and century-old traditions.
But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her — and her one-room school — as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and her heart is torn between two strong men with conflicting views about how to care for the families of the Cove.
Yearning to make a difference, will Christy’s determination and devotion be enough?
Christy has been on my list to read for maybe two years, and I finally got around to reading it, and I am so glad that I did. I would not have been ready to read a novel like Christy before, so it came at the perfect time. The book is sort of based on the author's mother and her life teaching children. This was published in the 1960s, but it reads more like a contemporary novel with a mix of good old-fashioned writing.
The story is beautiful, captivating, and one of the best I have ever read. The people of Cutter Gap were interesting and opinionated but, at the same time, clueless about life. Still, they showed Christy and the other missionaries a new way of living. The story has more difficult themes, including death, hardship, and abuse so I would recommend it for older teens and adults, but Christy is a must-read! There was also some romance, but it started at the middle to end of the book.
When I was reading Christy, I felt like I was in another time and world, and it was beautiful. The only thing I did not love about the book was the ending. I liked how the end played out, but it left some room for imagination, and I like when a story ends with lots of details and is completed. Besides that, I loved the whole thing; the book is more on the longer side, but totally worth it!
Things to Mention: A few mentions that a “little girl was beaten over and over by her mother’s lover, …brutally raped” and then later died. A women says how a bad man came into her Quaker community and tricked, seduced, and raped her when she was a girl. A doctor says he is amazed that a woman doesn't know the facts of physical intimacy. A mother accidentally kills her baby. There are people who made alcohol illegally. People get drunk and smoke. A few kisses with no detail. Some violence. A women says she was “an accident conceived in man’s lust.”
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If you have read Christy, let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Do you have a book you want to be reviewed? Let me know, and I'll add it to my list! Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you're here.
