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N and in the face of all she bears witness to Betty discovers an escape she begins to write She recounts the horrors of her family's past and present with pen and paper and buries them deep in the dirt moments that has stung her so deeply she could not tell them until now Inspired by the life of her own mother Tiffany McDaniel sets out to free the past by telling this heartbreaking yet magical story a remarkable novel that establishes her as one of the freshest and most important voices in American fictio. ’I’m a child only as tall as my father’s shotgunWhen I sit next to him I can feel the summer heat coming off his skin like he’s just another tin roof on a hot day’Her mother tells her stories dark filled with ominous warnings about what life is like for women She knows from experience Her father tells her stories too some from his family Cherokee legends and some from his heart and one about his heart a heart that is made of glass When she asks how a piece of glass is inside him he tells her ’It’s hanging’ in there from a sweet little string Within the glass is the bird God caught all the way up in heaven’‘Why’d He put a bird in there’ she asks So a little piece of heaven would always be in our hearts Safest place for a piece of heaven I reckonAnd when he lays her head on his chest asking her if she knows what that sound is from she tells him it’s the beating of his heart but he replies that ’It’s the noise of the little bird flappin’ her wings’But this story is Betty’s and it’s uite a story she has to tell A story filled with her love for her father and her sisters especially but also with racism and the many scars of childhood and life Coming from a family of eight children Betty has five older siblings when she is born in a bathtub in Ozark Arkansas in 1954 Two younger siblings will follow and money is tight and that’s when this story really begins to take shape after the youngest Lint was born and they decide to move again They are living in an old rundown house that they bought sight unseen in the southern Appalachia town of Breathed Ohio the location of the author’s debut novel The Summer That Melted Everything settling in Breathed Tales of older times pop up now and then some of which serve as a warning There’s so much love in this story as well as things to love I loved the stage that Betty’s father builds for her and her sisters one like his mother had in her garden and the garden of her mother and so on back to the beginnin’ of time where the women and girls would sing to keep the crows and insects away Their singing seeped into the ground enriching the soil and the garden thrived from their songs Men and boys weren’t included since it was the girls and women chosen the ones given the power that Nature recognized For every time this story broke my heart McDaniel pieced it back together again I loved the connection that Betty has with her sisters despite how broken they seem to be at times how desperate they are to escape this place and be seen as being worthy of love but especially with her father I loved that despite everything in her life that might break another person Betty seems to bear the burdens and to thrive despite the adversity The stories of her father offering her solace and fuels her desire to be like him to be a storytellerPub Date 18 Aug 2020Many thanks for the ARC provided by Knopf Random House
Tiffany McDaniel à 4 Read
Betty AUTHOR Tiffany McDaniNd blazing stars becomes a kind of refuge for Betty but when her family's darkest secrets are brought to light she has no choice but to reckon with the brutal history hiding in the hills as well as the heart wrenching cruelties and incredible characters she encounters in her rural town of Breathed Ohio But despite the hardship she faces Betty is resilient Her curiosity about the natural world her fierce love for her sisters and her father's brilliant stories are kindling for the fire of her own imaginatio. 4 strong stars for this unforgettable storyThis is a story about family Betty is the daughter of a white mother and Cherokee father Of all her siblings Betty develops the most physical traits of her Cherokee heritage Betty’s father takes pride in teaching his children the stories of his ancestors and passing down his family traditions involving the healing powers of plants and herbs Betty’s family struggles to fit in no matter where they live but her family unit keeps her grounded and confident that things will get better Based on the authors’ mothers’ life this story is brutally honest haunting and exceptionally well writtenI will warn you that this is not a book to read if you are feeling emotionally vulnerable in any way There are several ugly gut wrenching dark and horrific scenes Yet as uncomfortable as those scenes were to read the exuisite writing pulled me so deeply inside this family that I simply couldn’t turn away from them My heart ached for what this family endured yet I remained hopeful for them The main theme of the strong sense of family bond and loyalty was captured so perfectly I was teary eyed than a few times while experiencing the love and comfort these siblings offered each otherThis was a sad but beautiful story that I highly recommend Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy