Christy

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Synopsis

After hearing a missionary speak about the plight of the people who live in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston feels moved to volunteer as a schoolteacher in the tiny community of Cutter Gap. However, she wasn't entirely prepared for what she would find there. Christy is challenged by her job, in which she must find a way to teach over sixty students of all different ages in a small one-room schoolhouse. The city-raised young woman also experiences culture shock as she learns how to deal with strange customs, dark superstitions, and age-old feuds, as well as a typhoid epidemic that leads to tragedy and death. Christy struggles with her faith and also with her feelings for David, the minister who leads the congregation in Cutter Gap, and Neil, the local doctor, both of whom have differing views on the best way to help the mountain people. But through it all, her faith sustains her and she comes to love the people, both young and old, whose beauty and strength find a special place in her heart.

Review

Christy is a historical, inspirational novel that is, in part, biographical, based on the experiences of author Catherine Marshall's mother, who taught school in a mountain community in the Appalachians in the early 20th century. Mrs. Marshall was quoted as saying that the book is roughly 75% fact, but there were at least two characters and certain situations that were fictionalized. The story follows our title character nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston through approximately one year of her life. She's a well-educated, city girl from a fairly well-off family in Asheville, North Carolina. After hearing a doctor, who is the founder of a missions organization, speak at her church about the desperate need for a teacher in the Appalachian region of eastern Tennessee where his mission is starting a new school, Christy is inspired to volunteer. At first, her parents are reluctant to let her go, but her persistence wins the day, and she's soon off to the rural mountain community of Cutter Gap. During her first few weeks at the mission, she feels out of her element while also experiencing culture shock. She's expected to educate over sixty students of all ages and ability levels in a single-room schoolhouse that doubles as a church building on Sundays. To make things even more difficult, she finds herself butting up against strange customs and superstitions that are hard for her to understand. However, the abject poverty of her students and their families tug at her heartstrings, inspiring her to seek outside help from wealthy donors, which doesn't always go quite as planned. She's also faced with the reality of blockaders who are running moonshine, secretly using her school and some of the older children in their operation, long-standing mountain feuds that sometimes end in murder, and an epidemic of typhoid fever. Through it all, Christy's mentor, Miss Alice Henderson, a Quaker who runs the mission, encourages her to look for the beauty in both the mountains and the people who live there. As she struggles with her faith and builds friendships with some of the mountain women, Christy is also romantically drawn to both the minister, David Grantland, and the doctor, Neil McNeill, and trying to discern which man might be the best for her, if either.

Christy, the first-person narrator of the story, is both an idealist and an adventurer with a heart for helping people. She's just finished her first semester of college when she finds herself instantly inspired by the message of Dr. Ferrand, when he comes to speak at her church and doesn't hesitate to volunteer her services to teach the children of Cutter Gap. However, she didn't entirely know what she was in for when she accepted the position. She travels by rail to the nearest train station, which is still seven miles away from Cutter Gap, and it has just snowed a great deal. When no one meets her at the station like she expected, she puts her ingenuity and determination to use, convincing the mailman to lead her to the community and walking those miles through the cold and snow. Her first experience there is witnessing the doctor performing an operation on a man who's fallen into a coma after being hit on the head by a falling tree branch. She immediately feels out of her depth in so many ways, but she, once again, proves tenacious in her mission to do her best to help both her students and their families. Her work isn't without its frustrations, though, as she finds herself up against the mountain people's stubbornness and ignorance. But she still manages to find the beauty and exceptionalism around her. She also reaches out to companies seeking donations and is surprised by their generosity, but sometimes it causes a bit of trouble and friction. Later, she learns how to refine her message and take it directly to wealthy potential donors, which proves even more helpful. Ultimately Christy develops a love, compassion and enthusiasm for her newfound family, and also finds herself romantically confused by her feelings for both David and Neil. I really appreciated Christy for her unflagging determination to help others even when she's running herself into the ground and risking her life, trying to nurse typhoid patients. She has so many great qualities that are needed in any era, but at the same time, she isn't perfect and can sometimes be a little headstrong. All this in my estimation, though, made her a very relatable and realistic character.

There are many supporting characters who help Christy as she acclimates to her new job. Miss Alice runs the mission at Cutter Gap, as well as having started schools in two other nearby communities, which she travels between on a regular basis. She's a Quaker who believes the Light lives in everyone and is very kind and compassionate toward all the people she meets. She becomes Christy's mentor, guiding her spiritually, as well as in her work. David is a young minister fresh out of seminary who was assigned to the mission. He was there before Christy but is almost as out of his element as she is. Because he, too, is an outsider from the city, the people are a little distrustful of him at times. Much like Christy, he struggles with many of the mountain people's traditions, particularly running moonshine, which causes all sorts of trouble in the community. He also grapples with whether or not he really was meant to become a minister, especially when he has trouble reaching his parishioners. Neil is a widower who lost his wife and the baby she birthed prematurely, which has in part left him agnostic. He is himself a mountain man, born and raised in the area. However, he left to attend medical school, then chose to return to help his people. Because he grew up in Cutter Gap, he understands and has a degree of compassion for their ways that Christy and David don't. He ends up educating them in more ways than one. All of these characters, along with a plethora of mountain people, both adults and children, create a lively cast.

This was actually my second reading of Christy. However, the first was probably at least thirty or more years ago, so I barely remembered anything about it beyond enjoying it. Over the years since, my faith views have altered significantly, so I wasn't sure if I would still like it as well. I also tend to have a complicated relationship with inspirational literature, which I oftentimes feel is too pithy, lacking in depth, and depicting a version of faith that seems naive at best or arrogant in its certainties at worst. I'm happy to report, though, that this book stood the test of time and my altering beliefs. All the characters are complex and nuanced. The "good" characters don't always do the right thing but they learn from their mistakes, while the "bad" characters aren't all bad, sometimes showing that they can choose the right path. I related to Christy's and David's frustrations with many of the mountain people's superstitions and ignorance, but at the same time, I could also understand Miss Alice's and Neil's views, which tended to give them some leeway. There were characters that I maybe didn't particularly like, but I appreciated that the book never truly demonized anyone. I also liked that the story showed a woman, Miss Alice, as a ministry leader. She basically runs multiple missions and is even mentioned to have preached in the community before David came.

Rather than taking a Pollyanna approach to its faith message, I found a great deal of profundity and sensitivity in it. All of the characters wrestle with their beliefs, whether in the past or the present, which in my experience is the way it usually is in real life. No one chides or browbeats anyone else for their questions, uncertainties, or lack of belief. The author doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of life either. While not graphic in any way, she grapples with topics not often seen in inspirational stories, such as feuding, murder, grooming and sexual assault, death, and poverty. Because of these things the story showed the kind of depth and dimension that I often find lacking in the genre. All of these elements put together is why I still enjoyed Christy after so many years and so many changes in my own life and faith. It was a great story that I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who likes historical novels centering around a Christian faith message. I'm very much looking forward to revisiting the television series that was based on it as well.

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