"I remember the fierce love and devotion as much as I remember the violence."

I almost put off reading this book. I started it, read a few pages, and decided I wasn't in the mood to read it right then. I then read a review on Goodreads that spoke of the impact the book had the reader and how it was one of the best books he's ever read. I respect this reviewer (don't always agree with him) but decided it was worth giving this book another chance. I am so glad I did.

To me this book consists of two separate themes. The first is the love of nature and its bounty. The second is the horror one human can do against another.

When I was a young girl and woman I read quite a few books by Gene Stratton-Porter and fell in love with the world she wrote about which was the Limberlost Swamp country of Indiana. Her books were almost poetic as they described the beauty and magic of that country.

That is what author McDaniel brings to BETTY as she writes about the foothills of the Ohio Appalachians.

Betty is a girl born to a Cherokee father and a white mother during a time that just wasn't done. The story covers the years 1909 through the early 1970s. She has many siblings and the family moves around a lot at first, finally settling back outside Breathed, Ohio. They live in impoverished circumstances but their father draws the family close with his stories of nature and plants and family. I especially loved his story of the glass heart and the bird that lives within.

But the other side of this story is horrific with sexual abuse and madness and tragedy. The story doesn't shy away from the horrors but turns them to the light for all to see. In that way it reminds me of the book PUSH by Sapphire that I read a few years ago.

Yes, this is one of the best books I've read but it was deeply unsettling and I had to take a break once in awhile to catch my breath or just ponder the beauty of certain passages.

I highly recommend this book but be forewarned - it is a terrible mix of beauty and darkness of the soul.

I received this book from A.A. Knopf through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

4.5★★★★Stars

Genre: Historical Fiction
Type: Standalone 
POV: First Person - Female

Betty Carpenter was born in a time where parents with mixed ethnicity was almost a sin. With a white mother and a Cherokee as a father her life was super hard. Even though she had a big family of sisters and brothers she was the only one that looked more like her father so the bullying never ended even in her own home.

“ I had my father’s eyes, but now my mother’s pain. I could feel his pain becoming a solid thing I feared would always be there.”

This book was raw, was deep and I felt all the anger and emotions that made this book almost unforgettable to me. The injustices of the world and everything Betty had to see at such a young age truly made me feel for her. I absolutely love her character though, she was so strong for her age and smart. Her father was truly an inspiration, I loved the relationship he had with Betty.

“My people are Cherokee,” I said, standing taller. “And if we were still livin’ today as my ancestors did in the past before everything was taken away from us, women would be in charge and you would have to listen to me.”

Overall; I highly recommend Betty to anyone looking for a Historical tale of family, secrets and overcoming racist. If you are looking for book with deep feels you have found the right story.

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel is a beautifully written and absolutely gut-wrenching story about a family that goes through far more than any family should ever have to. But even through the darkness, the main character, Betty, was still able to be a guiding light for this family.

For me, this book felt like a never-ending series of gut punches. The number of things that this poor girl dealt with while growing up was so intense. From racism to some very violent acts she witnessed within her family, it’s amazing to me that she was able to still stay positive.

One of the most difficult parts for me was seeing something really dark happen, to be immediately followed by something lighter as Betty tried to get the darkness out of her head. Of course, some of the darkness stuck around, deeply ingrained in her mind and in her stories that she buried. But it was heartbreaking to me that she had to go through a lot of this, let alone that most of it happened when she was so young and didn’t get understand the full extent of what was happening.

Even more heartbreaking was realizing that she actually did understand, and perhaps on a deeper level than anyone could have realized.

So a heads up to anyone who picks this one up, it needs a whole slew of trigger warnings. There are elements of homophobia, incest, suicide, self-harm, murder, rape, child abuse, abortion, child death, a dog death, and more.

But the darkness was only part of it!

There were so many beautiful scenes too. Like Betty offering to help Lint whenever he feels a storm brewing in his mind. Trustin working on his art or painting eyes on Lint’s rocks. Betty and Flossie putting their goodnights in a jar for Fraya. All of the kids working in the garden with their dad. And so much more!

The elements that were shared about the Cherokee culture was absolutely wonderful to read about. This certainly made me want to get back in touch with nature again. The father in the story also really reminded me of my Papa, who believe in plant-based things over western world medicines.

So yes, while there was a lot of darkness, there was also a lot of love, loyalty, and hope! The writing style was absolutely beautiful, and flowed like poetry in some areas.

Betty is a story inspired by Tiffany McDaniel's mother, Betty and her family secrets. It's a story of abuse, racism and poverty but a story of love through the strong connections Betty has with her father Landon and her siblings. It's also an Appalachian story with Cherokee stories and history. It's not an easy read at times and might not be for the lighter more gentle minded reader; however, it's one of those stories that shows us the dark to see the light in the world around us.

It is remarkable, stunningly and shockingly sad and heartbreaking, filled with as much love as it is devasting. It's the beautiful way it's written that made it impressive to me. We see the horrors of Betty's family past and present and my emotions ran wild with the cruelty inflicted on the characters. With Tiffany's use of words, I could see the beauty she and Betty found in love, family, Betty's father's stories and their connection to the Appalachian land. I could feel Tiffany's passion for telling Betty's family's story with all its beauty and ugliness.

"I remember the fierce love and devotion as much as I remember the violence." "our family tree grew with rotten, broken branches and fungus on the leaves."

Tiffany McDaniel takes her time here as she paints us a vivid picture of the stories Landan shares with Betty and his ways. The story is rich in the everyday life of the characters that is as bold as it is normal. At times it did feel a bit much for me, making the book feel longer than it needed to be and at times, I lost some focus.

At times the violence might feel relentless because it's so horrifying but I thought Tiffany McDaniel balanced it with the love, connections and stories she shared with us through Landon. I kept imagining how relentless the violence might have felt for Tiffany and Betty and how much courage they both had in telling their stories.

This is a story that is as beautiful as it is ugly!

HOW MUCH DOES A FAMILY NEED TO ENDURE?! Phew! Y'all know I'm a binge reader but I took my sweet time with this one.  Granted, I had things going on in my life that needed attending to that also slowed down my reading process but this is a book you want to eat one word at a time.

Betty is a biracial, White/Cherokee, girl growing up in times were people were *less* accepting and we see her POV throughout this read.  It's heart breaking, vivid, beautiful, creative and you are instantly drawn into her world.  Equally horrified, happy, worried, feeling all the feelings that she does.  This was certainly a roller coaster for my heart to go through.  The bullying and prejudice her and her family faced was hard to read for sure, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what also happened internally within her own family. PHEW.  Readers, I am not one that is easily triggered.... but if you are, prepare yourself for this read because it basically hits on about every trigger out there.

What I loved best about this read is how beautifully it was written, learning so much about the Cherokee culture and feeling more at one with nature than I ever have! The way the author captures just about every tragedy that can happen within a family is honestly nothing like anything I've read before.  But there is the undercurrent of hope.  Of family strife, grief, hardship.... but also filled with loyalty and love.  

Now, I read a ton of fucked up books and enjoy them tremendously.  But knowing the premise behind why the author wrote this story and the beautiful way she captured everything in its lyrical beauty is truly impressive.  Don't let the unassuming cover fool you.  This book is chock full of beauty ... even in its most horrific form.

“Betty. Little ol’ me. I was born in 1954 in a dry claw-foot bathtub in Arkansas. When Mom went into labor on the toilet, the closest place she had to lay was in the tub. In the face of Flossie’s jealousy, I was named after Bette Davis.”

This book got me all tangled up in emotions – sad, angry, disgusted, happy, love; it pulled at my heartstrings as much as tore it into apart . McDaniel’s writing is breathtakingly beautiful; it sings and paints. She’s definitely born with the gift her Papaw Landon and her mother, Betty, who were storytellers in their own right. It’s no wonder her debut ‘The Summer That Melted Everything’ had won the hearts of so many readers, and become the recipient of the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. I intend to read this!

‘Betty’ is based on the author’s mother and her life as a mixed-race girl from rural Ohio. Believe it or not, ‘Betty’ was written nearly two decades ago, when the author was 18, but was rejected by many agents and publishers who considered the novel too ‘dark’, and even suggested her to change her mother into a man. How times have changed in the publishing industry! Do this today, and you’d be cancelled.

In the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, in the fictional Ohio town of Breathed, in a little Victorian-inspired two-story home in Shady Lane, were Betty and her other 5 siblings, her mother, Alka, a white woman, and her dad Landon Carpenter, a Cherokee Native American who worked in the mines.

Betty and her sibling’s lives were filled with stories told by their loving, doting father. Stories about birds, plants, rocks, and Cherokee legends like Selu, whose blood seeped into the soil could grow everything, or stories he created out of nothing like The Restless Star Catchers who can never stop flying because they have to catch stars which can never stop falling.

When Betty was bullied at school for her dark skin, when she was consumed by her family’s secrets, when she was overcome by troubles and worries, her father would unburden her with his stories. Naturally, the book opened with one of them – about his heart being made of glass, and within the glass is the bird God caught in heaven. When Betty asked why did God put a bird in there, he said,

“So a little piece of heaven would always be in our hearts. Safest place for a piece of heaven, I reckon.” And the little bird is a “glitterin’ bird and her whole body would shine like little fires of light the way Dorothy’s ruby slippers did in that movie.”

This book was heartbreaking, at times, unbearable; there was hate, anger, jealousy, bitterness, violence and abuse, but there was also so much love and compassion shown in the family. When you thought Alka was cruel, you’d be shown her tenderness and your heart would ache for her; when you thought Fraya was weak, she’d surprise you with her strength and tenacity, and when you thought Lint was always lost, you’d see how smart, strong and intelligent he was. And Betty, she was the sum of them all; always their squash, the protector, the one “who stretches her leaves to shade the ground and fight off weeds.” And Landon, their father, he was definitely the heart and soul of the family.

‘Betty’ is about a family who, despite their idiosyncrasies, despite their secrets so dark that could drown them all, learned to cope and survive with what they had – each other, stories and nature. The novel also gives voice to all victims of rape and abuse, and to all the Bettys who are told they don’t deserve anything good in this world, that they are worthless, that they should just sit at the sidelines and watch the world go by.

Yes, ‘Betty’ was a really tough, challenging read. I had to pause many times and walk away from it, sometimes doubting myself to finish it. But I knew I had to. I wanted to. I wanted the abused to know I’m here, I see them, I hear their cries. I want them to know their voices count and that their stories matter.

This quote was one of the most heartbreaking in the book: “The heaviest thing in the world is a man on top of you when you don’t want him to be.”

This was a heart-shattering coming-of-age story, but one that was also filled with love and compassion written in the most captivating prose. McDaniel, thank you for sharing with us Betty’s story. It’d live in me for a long time.

I was gifted a free eARC of this book by a kind, brilliant, influential book blogger with the author’s permission, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

I have much more to share about this book on my blog. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time!

Full review on hookedonbookz.com

“A stunning, lyrical novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians in which a young girl discovers stark truths that will haunt her for the rest of her life.”

Where to even begin with this one?

When Tiffany got in touch with me, she made sure to mention that this book would appeal to a horror reader – such as myself. And let me tell you, she was right.

I’m not talking about the typical haunted houses, possessions, or creatures… no. I’m all too comfortable around them, they’re old friends of mine.

What Tiffany was talking about is something deeper, scarier. True horror, in my opinion. The kind of horror that breaks a grown man.

“You give me a wall, and I’ll give you a hole. You give me a window, and I’ll give you a break. You give me water, and I’ll give you blood.” —BETTY

This book is pure magic. 

The characters are so real and alive that you can almost feel their presence. The story flows beautifully through Tiffany’s writing.

‘Betty’ is one of the best books I’ve read in 2020. 

Quite honestly a perfect book.

5/5

The good news is that I still haven’t read ‘The Summer that Melted Everything’. And now I’m even more excited to check it out.

Thanks for sharing your magic with us, Tiffany.

I’m conflicted. I loved Landon Carpenter, he’s one of the best book dads I’ve come across this side of Atticus Finch. But is he still a good dad if he does not notice how desperately unhappy his children are? Or was it something just not spoken about during the time? Does that excuse him though? Does the fact that he told good stories cancel out the evil that lived under his own roof and that he never knew about?

I don’t know. I liked him, but I also felt that I was giving him a pass that I didn’t feel inclined to give Alka. She is bruised too, from the cruelties within her house, but she’s also thorny, and hard to like. I loved all the kids save one, especially Betty and Lint and Trustin. I liked the story, even though it’s all about violence, against women, against Native Americans, against animals, against children. Someone has to witness it. (It’s also not like any of it has gone away).

But it’s a hard book to read. It took me a long time to get through this because I couldn’t read more than 2 chapters at a time, even when nothing bad was happening on paper because the promise of it was still present. The only reason I grit my teeth and finished it today was because I was committed to provide a review. I’m glad I read it, but I’m also very glad that I am finished with it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the first book I've read by Tiffany McDaniel and I know it will not be the last. Her writing is absolutely beautiful and while this certainly was not necessarily the easiest book to read, I found myself totally captivated. 

This book is based on the author's mother and is narrated by Betty. It is a coming-of-age story of Betty, though it starts by telling us the story of Betty's parents and then we get Betty's whole family story. It is both heartwarming and harrowing what this family has gone through and having it told through the eyes of Betty makes it stand out all the more.

The characters in this story, Betty's family, come alive and are so richly drawn. I know this is one story I will not be forgetting, not only because of what this family experienced but also because of the masterful way the story is told. This is not necessarily a story of family drama but rather a story of family trauma. We see the pains of one generation being passed on to the next. It all combines to tell a such an immersive story.
   
All in all, this is a book I know I will not be forgetting. It's one of those books that is not meant to be rushed through, but rather to take in slowly. This story broke my heart but it also left me feeling a little bit hopeful at the end and I loved that. I know that I will definitely be keeping Tiffany McDaniel on my list of authors to read - I so enjoyed her writing.

HAPPY PUB DAY (!!!) to dear, dear Betty. What a treasure this novel is. Betty has no peer in my eyes, and Tiffany McDaniel has established herself as a clear and important voice in literature today. 

Betty is breathtaking from start to finish and in so many different ways. Firstly, the writing is beautiful. The way she describes the lush landscapes and sprawling setting of the Appalachians is subtly woven throughout the narrative and yet poetically portrayed. 

Despite its beauty, this book is dark. It digs deep and heavy into the family dynamics of rural Americans in the 1940-70s, and many of the truths revealed are bitter and ugly. While portraying horrifically vivid scenes of rape and incest, the timing of the plot is well-planned. I felt like I was just beginning to sympathize with and become emotionally invested in the characters just as they were starting to break my heart, or have my heart broken for them. 

Betty also reveals to us a culture that is vastly underrepresented in the canon of American literature today--that of Cherokee people living out their culture and traditions in the face of extreme discrimination, and how they cling to their roots and to the land for comfort, hope, and provision. Through the character of Dad and his relationship with Betty, we can see how values and traditions of this beautiful culture are passed down through generations, despite the horrific oppression and prejudice that they face in continuing to practice their traditions. 

This is a beautiful book. It is an important book, and I am so thankful that Tiffany McDaniel wrote it and that I got to read it. 

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley for an advance copy of Betty in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by McDaniel but I intend on going back and reading The Summer that Melted Everything. When I was first contacted by Tiffany to read her novel I was not expecting such a gut punch, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. This is Betty’s story. It’s a hard story inspired by the authors mother of a dirt poor family living in the foothills of the Appalachians. Betty grew up in a house with eight children to a Cherokee father and White mother. While her siblings take on their mothers attributes, Betty looks like her father. She grows up hearing stories of Cherokee legends from her father, and stories of dark warning for her mother on just what life as a woman is like. This book isn’t easy. While its filled with love, it’s also filled with abuse, animal cruelty, mental health, and racism. But it’s a story that should be read. Sometimes life isn’t easy and we have to step out of our comfort zones and see just how hard it can be.  While there were times I cringes and was even brought to tears, I am glad I read this novel.  Thank you to Tiffany McDaniel for the review copy and thank you for this story.

4.5/5

I’m left utterly breathless. What an immense story contained within a singular family. I don’t know if there’s a way to adequately prepare someone to go into this novel, but here I’ll do my best.

“You know what the heaviest thing in the world is, Betty?”

This book was the quiet before the storm, and then it was the storm itself. Tiffany McDaniel‘s writing is exquisite. There’s a way that authors-who-are-also-poets write that’s almost immediately identifiable. It felt like every other line contained something that I want to scribble down and store away for later. But as soon as I found myself falling into a rhythm, the song quickly shifted into a new movement, and I was thrown off the beat. As easily as she can sweep you away, McDaniel can yank you suddenly back into your body.

Betty follows the life of Betty Carpenter and her family as she grows up in the fictional town of Breathed, Ohio. Her father, Landon, is Cherokee and her mother, Alka is white. Every significant moment in their lives from the time the two of them meet until the final pages of the book is documented by their youngest daughter, Betty, as she learns about who she is and what her place is in the world. Most of these lessons are hard, made harder by the time and location she resides in. But they are also made easier by the fortifying nature of some of her family members and ancestors. 

This is not a story of family drama but one of family trauma. It’s also the story of all the beautiful things that grow in the cracks between them. In the Carpenters, we watch as the scars of one generation are passed on to the next. It can be hard to reconcile when a person unloads that pain onto someone they’re supposed to love unconditionally. Can you forgive someone that’s tried to drag you down with them, if they thought it was the only way they could keep from drowning? Can any amount of understanding make it okay? It will never be okay. 

Parts of this book were devastating. Other parts were enchanting. I don’t want to giveaway any plot, but I also don’t want someone to go in entirely blind. Give yourself the emotional space to fully immerse yourself in the story. There is grief and there is joy. There are storms and there is solace. There are beginnings and there are endings. We can’t choose what we inherit or from who, but we do have some say in what we do with it.

The moment I started reading this novel I knew it will be hard for me to write my thoughts just like what happened to me when I read The Summer That Melted Everything. Sad and Beautiful, these are the words that will stay in your heart when you read this. A book that has so much to offer, so much that the world must know.

The author has the power to drown her reader in emotions, emotions that will make them love everything in this book. A very vivid description of life that will surely take your heart away.

This is a story of a girl named Betty. As being different as what the world tried her to say, she found it difficult to life with all the stones they are throwing her. She is a representation of the women in the world who suffers cruelty because of her appearance and status in life. With her father who guides her as she grow she finds bravery and love. She learned to forgive people who hurt her and fight for the people she love.

Every character in this novel has a story to tell, each of them highlights issues that are rampantly being ignored in our society until now. This novel will surely cut your heart open and touch your soul. There are so much emotion and lessons to learn. A book that talks about cruelty of life especially women and people in color.

In this book you will also find connection with nature and how beautiful life is, even how much cruelty it contains.

Readers today needs an author like Tiffany, who writes truth ang highlights important topics like inequality, racism, harassment and many more.

McDaniel’s books is a whole package. Truly diverse in every way. TSTMET and Betty will always have a special place in my heart. This book have taught me to value life and love yourself and the people around you even more.

So much emotion, lessons and love for this piece.

If you are looking for a diverse book, this is for you. Be ready to dive into emotions and be carried away.

***please consider that some parts of this book might trigger anxiety or might be heavy for some readers. Read it with caution.***

This is a difficult book to review because it covers a lot of very heavy topics… to say that I loved a book that is so full of pain feels shallow and callous. So instead I will say this - Betty is a love letter, from an author to her mother.

Betty (the book) is based on the real life of Betty, Tiffany McDaniel’s mother. I cannot imagine a more personal experience as an author than to give life to your family’s stories, to dive deep into the lived experiences of those who came before you, and to seek to understand and honor them through your own words.

This is a very heavy read - I’ve listed quite a few content warnings at the bottom of this review for those who find them helpful - but it is also an immensely beautiful story. Tiffany McDaniel’s writing is captivating, lyrical, and profoundly emotional. Her words carry so much compassion and love, in Landon’s stories, in Betty’s thoughts and feelings, and in their small moments of joy… but also in their moments of trauma and pain.

This book is one of the best coming of age stories I think I’ve ever read, but it is also an incredibly raw and honest exploration into complex family dynamics, trauma, identity, and regionalism and racism in America.

Growing up in North Carolina, I spent quite a bit of time in the Appalachian Mountains, which I think explains my love for books set there. Appalachia is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful parts of the America, but many who live there endure extreme poverty and lack basic access to quality healthcare, education, housing, etc. In Betty, I found that McDaniels was able to capture that dichotomy with candor and respect, and without glorifying or fetishizing poverty in ways I’ve seen other authors do.

Because I am not an Indigenous person, I cannot speak on the lived experiences of the BIPOC characters in this book, so I will yield that conversation to own-voices bookstagrammers with firsthand understanding and experience.

However, I do think that the discussions of racism against Black and Indigenous people in this book are a candid look into the lives of those living in Appalachia during Betty’s formative years and could inspire a lot of constructive reflection and discussion on how Betty’s experience (and the experiences of others around her) is unique to their time period, region, and personal experience, but is also representative of a greater system of injustice and inequality that persists even today.

I am so grateful to McDaniel for sharing her beautiful book with me. I am forever in awe of her incredible talent and dedication to this story. This is a heavy book, but one that I found to be immensely impactful and will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend this book to fans of Appalachian literature, coming of age stories, and anyone who simply loves beautiful writing.

CW/TW - racism, slurs, murder, lynching, r*pe, miscarriage, child abuse, bullying, animal death

Betty Carpenter is the daughter of a Cherokee father and a white mother and one of eight siblings. She was especially close to her father and loved the tales he told about their heritage. Her family, which faced many injustices such as racism and poverty, causes her to see abuse and  experience loss both inside and outside of the family. Those events are extremely traumatizing and throughout it all she remains resilient.   

This dark beautifully written slow burn story had beautiful characters that jumped off the page. The reader sees the main character’s strength as she manages the most difficult moments

I was honored when the author reached out to me and provided me with an ARC to review. After reading the synopsis, I was immediately interested in the story, especially since it is based on the author's mother's (Betty) life. Within a few pages, I realized how talented of a writer McDaniel is. Her prose is gorgeous and lyrical and memorable. Every word choice is thoughtful- while the setting and characters are thoroughly described and are so vivid that I felt that I had walked into Betty's world, the amount of description never felt extraneous or excessive. Each of the characters was given the attention they deserved and I felt that I was able to understand them through Betty's eyes. 

There were many things that I loved about Betty (the novel and the person). But when I finished reading, the thing that has stuck in my mind the most is Betty's resiliency. Despite the losses, difficulties and heartbreaks, Betty perseveres and moves forward. She still sees the world as a beautiful and magical place, even when its cruelty and violence threaten to tear her apart. Her spirit and her love for her family are what sets her story apart and why I am so glad that this story was shared with all of us through her daughter Tiffany. 

Betty was haunting, beautifully written and emotional and a story that I will not forget

Betty is not a title for the faint of heart. Trigger tags are a necessity when recommending this powerful narrative about race, poverty, familial abuse, and the power of narrative. That said, this title has exceptional literary merit and is worth examining time and again. 
Born in a bathtub, the daughter of a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is a born writer. While her large family shifts from town to town, the constant is the stories her father weaves into every facet of the family’s life. Her father’s stories are urgent, his interpretation of the world through these stories demand to be believed and he instills this in Betty. 
When Betty begins to experience and discover the inequities of the world and abuse within her family, the only way to heal and comprehend is through writing her own narrative. 
This is a powerful and imaginative book. Well worth the read.

Thank you to the author for providing me with an e-ARC of Betty in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings: Racism, Animal Death, Homophobia, Self-mutilation, Abortion, Suicide, Rape, Child Molestation, Child Death, Drug Overdose

As can be seen in the content warnings, Betty by Tiffany McDaniel is an extremely heavy read. None of the warnings from the author & other readers could have warned me enough when it came to this heart-wrenching journey. In the mood to cry? Betty might be for you.

I have heard nothing but good things when it comes to McDaniel’s debut, The Summer that Melted Everything. I have yet to read it, but trust me, it skyrocketed to the top of my TBR after reading Betty. The author knows exactly how to piece together words in order to create a beautifully crafted story. A word artist, if I do say so myself.

I realized then that not only did Dad need us to believe his stories, we needed to believe them as well.


Betty was born to a Cherokee father and a white mother, along with her seven other siblings. The Carpenters not only live with the struggle of poverty but are often faced with racism, loss, and so many other tribulations. Betty’s father, Landon, stands as a backbone to the Carpenter family & often shares stories — these stories often providing inspiration or strength for his loved ones.

Tiffany McDaniel came to me with Betty knowing that I was a horror fan & would probably be able to stomach what occurs in this novel; seeing as I’ve read some dark things in my time. & yes, I was able to handle the content. However, Betty was a reminder that real-life and humanity is much scarier than anything most horror authors write.

With almost every chapter, my mouth would fall open in shock and I had to treat myself to multiple self-care breaks. This review is not to scare you away from picking up Betty, but instead to let you know that you’ll most likely leave this book with a lot of emotions. And quite honestly, any author that can have that much of an impact is doing a Hell of a job.

Betty deserves all of the praise; the writing is mesmerizing & the story will stick with you long after you put it down.

Tiffany McDaniel’s incredible novel Betty broke me. It’s the coming-of-age story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954, Betty, the sixth of eight children, was raised for most of her life in the foothills of the Ohio Appalachians. Her father Landon Carpenter is a proud Cherokee married to her mother, Alka Lark, who is white. While her siblings look more like her mother, Betty is most like her father with dark skin.

The family is poor but Landon provides his children with inventive storytelling rooted in Cherokee myths and legends. From blazing stars to a bird living in a glass heart, the stories are magical. Betty develops a creative mind and becomes a storyteller in her own right. The support and love, especially from her father, does not prepare Betty for the hatred she faces once she enters school. Betty experiences racial hatred not only from the other children but from the faculty. While her mother tells Betty that she is not pretty like her sisters, it is the sweet and wonderful relationship with her father that keeps Betty strong and believing in herself.

Betty comes to learn the truth of generational abuse hidden within her own family shaking her entire foundation. It is way too much for a child to deal with this type of trauma and it’s very hard to read about it.

Betty is based on the author’s mother Betty and her family which makes the story even more heartbreaking. The writing is stunning and lyrical. I kept noting favorite passages when I realized almost every word in this book is worth savoring. It is rare for a book to stir up so much emotion. I highly recommend it but there are some upsetting passages that might be too much for some.

I am so glad that the author reached out to me to read Betty in advance of its publication. Thank you, thank you Tiffany McDaniel. And thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley.

Every once in a great while, a book will come along that blows me out of the water and delivers a solid punch to my gut – Betty is one of those books. Simply put, this is really a 10-star read and has bumped itself up into my top 5 reads of all time.

“A girl comes of age against the knife. She must learn to bear its blade. To be cut. To bleed. To scar over and still, somehow, be beautiful and with good enough knees to take the sponge to the kitchen floor every Saturday.”

So begins the story of Betty Carpenter, a girl born of a white woman and a Cherokee man. She is the youngest girl and the only one of her six living siblings that strongly resembles her father. The majority of the novel takes place during the 1960’s in the fictional, southern Ohio town of Breathed and follows Betty from the time she is seven until she is eighteen. Betty has been raised on the stories of her father’s people and the strength she inherits from powerful Cherokee women; likewise, she has been raised on the stories of her mother’s people and the the abuse her mother suffered at the hands of her family. The dichotomy of these truths allows Betty to see the horrors that are happening within her own family and surroundings.

While Betty encapsulates the sense of time and place with McDaniel’s understanding of certain rural truths: mental illness was not a topic to be discussed and women being inferior to men, chief among them; She presents these truths in a manner that allows us to recognize that time has not erased these problems. The curtains may have changed, but they still cover the same old dirty windows.

It should be said that Betty is not a horror novel, but rather a literary novel with horrific elements. It is beautiful, tragic, and gritty enough to surpass the works of Cormac McCarthy, Daniel Woodrell, or Stuart O’Nan. McDaniel handles topics of discrimination, racism, sexism, abuse, incest, and cruelty with a deft hand. She commands attention with her lyrical prose, vivid imagery, and powerful use of metaphors; she paints over all this with a watercolor layer of magical realism that both softens and hardens truths at their edges.

Betty is a tough read, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. There were moments where I had to walk away for a little while and come back to the book the next day. The reality that Betty endures would have broken me – she is a far stronger woman than I am. Having said that, the moments of beauty and strength are more powerful than the enduring tragedy of the Carpenter family. There are passages and images in my mind that will stay with me forever. If you read one book this year, please, read Betty.