Sixteen-year-old Honey is the first-person protagonist of the novel. She is part of the “Blues”—a group of people in the Kentucky hills with hereditary methemoglobinemia, which makes skin appear blue. This genetic condition only affects Honey’s hands and feet. She refers to her “loud-talking blue hands” as a defining physical trait (120), and she faces discrimination due to this. Honey and her family must deal with both prejudiced individuals and the discriminatory laws in 1950s Kentucky, which prohibit “miscegenation,” or marrying someone of another race. In the book, “Blue” individuals are considered not white, and since her Mama is a “Blue,” Honey’s parents are arrested for breaking this law.

Family is very important to Honey. When she talks about her deceased biological parents, she says, “wish I could’ve met my first parents, could’ve had more of them” (232). Honey’s adoptive Mama is Cussy Mary Lovett, the protagonist of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Mama passes down her love of books to Honey, who reads and writes poetry. Honey is intertwined with The Function of Books in the novel. She transforms her love of books into an occupation, becoming a Pack Horse librarian—or “Book Woman”—like her Mama.