Betty: The International Bestseller

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This is the story of Betty Carpenter and her family as they move from place to place until they finally settle in Breathed, Ohio on the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Guernica: You’ve said that you hope the takeaway from your first novel, The Summer That Melted Everything, is that people should love one another more. Is there a similar message for Betty ? 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. Tiffany McDaniel has given us a vivid and haunting portrait of the writer as a young girl. Betty Carpenter survives the brutality of her childhood through her father's stories and his steadfast belief in her own. A novel of tragedy and trouble, poetry and power, not a story you will soon forget." When I was a mere 5% into this book, I fretted about not wanting it to end. This book is THAT good. The characters are living, breathing, loving, and endearing. They go through the darkest and most unsettling of times, and I was with them for every bit of this journey I never wanted to end.

Betty is actually Tiffany McDaniel’s mother and the author writes a beautiful ode to her lineage of strong women and an even more beautiful one to her grandfather, a man she never knew but was unusual in his generation for thinking that his daughters could be more than wives and mothers.

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At the end of the book, I felt totally exhausted, but I’m so glad that I read this. What a wonderful, but difficult read! I have never read anything like it. I don’t know if it’s because this book was more personal to the author or what? — but the way she wrote the setting and the characters was spectacular. It all felt so real and the characters each felt so distinct.

Trigger warning: this book talks about racism, have graphic scenes about bullying and violence, talks about child loss, abuse, suicide, and also has homophobic lines that are part of the story. We follow the family from the 1930s — the moment Landon and Alka meet — until Betty, their youngest daughter enters adulthood. be it in the woods or in their house: ( sometimes the story had a childlike fairytale ‘feel’)... but with the devastations - it’s not a child’s book) Tiffany McDaniel: When I was 17 years old, my mother told me a secret. It was the type of secret that most families keep hidden. It opened the door on other family secrets, and I realized there was a lot I didn’t know. The secrets of the women in the family were all eye-opening lessons on another part of our history—the generational abuse. After that, I talked to my mom, my grandmother, and the other women in the family, digging deeper into those secrets to give them shape. It is interesting, exploring your own family history. I knew these people, and yet there are so many things I hadn’t known. It goes to show you how important it is for us to listen to our elders and to hear about their experiences. Isn’t this what parenthood is all about? Steadying feet and hanging lanterns along the path to adulthood?I voted for The Summer That Melted Everything to win every literary prize in 2016. I will be right there shouting from the rooftops that I loved this book. Please be aware that while I call this book beautiful in so many ways, dark things happen to and within this family. That is not what this book is about. Powerful, emotional, beautifully descriptive and haunting, I will never forget Betty, her indelible story, or the way she shared it through her daughter’s masterful skill. Even more heartbreaking was realizing that she actually did understand, and perhaps on a deeper level than anyone could have realized. In fact, teen girls are four times more likely to be victims of rape or assault than the general population and those in poverty likelier still. In a place and time that demonized women’s role in their own sexual assault, it’s quite easy to imagine several women in the same family staying quiet about their experiences. McDaniel believes the #MeToo movement helped make space for a novel like “Betty” by bringing to light just how common abuse really is, creating “a more welcoming and supportive environment for individuals to feel they can share their stories.” Betty is one of the best books I’ve read this year and will be added to my favourites list! And I will talk about it non stop to the point where everyone will be annoyed with me so they’ll read the book just to get me to be quiet ✌ Jamie Ford, New York Timesbestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweetand Love and Other Consolation Prizes

McDaniel doesn’t really know herself: “Oh, Sal is a mystery even to me. He’s a contradiction, an old soul in a young body. I have my theories, but I don’t want to spoil it. There are some certainties about where he’s come from and who he is, so I think there is a point somewhere where those two identities merge.” I saw people compare it to A Little Life, the book I still haven't read, but it is well known for the sadness, so it makes sense. I also think that Betty should have been promoted more, because it deserves more attention, but I hope as people'll read it they will talk about it more and it will get the recognition. the strength and dreams for a better life...in the rolling hills of the Ohio Appalachians is like a rising sun of brightness.

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel – Highly recommended

Eight novels in a year may sound like a lot, but McDaniel talks about writing like one taking urgent instructions. She is strict in her ways: she has no outlines or plans, writes strictly chronologically and only starts when she has the title and the first line. It takes her a month, on average, to write a book. “They need to get out,” she says. This novel is inspired by my mother Betty’s life and I couldn’t have asked to be raised by a better woman. I am inspired daily by her intelligence, her creativity, her determination, and her strength. The poem ‘My Broken Home,’ at the beginning of the novel, was written by her. And when I read the lines, ‘you give me a wall / and I’ll give you hole,’ I understood that she was finally breaking down the walls and freeing everything behind them. Mom is so thrilled to see the book out on the shelf. And to all you readers, she thanks you dearly for reading this story. I hope in these photos you see not only her beauty on the outside, but her beauty within. May Betty the novel and Betty the person inspire and empower girls like her to dare to dream and never give up.

Gwyn Hyman Rubio, New York Timesbestselling author of Icy Sparks, The Woodman’s Daughter, and Love & Ordinary Creatures Betty is woven of many things, light and dark, and most of all it is life in all its shades: all its brilliances and disappointments, sadnesses and hopes. Vivid and lucid, Betty has stayed with me.' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

The first part of the book covers the 1908-1961 years. It’s shorter because Betty doesn’t have her own memories of these years but it’s an important part to root the family tree in its history. Landon’s Cherokee roots mean that he comes from a culture with a matriarchal tradition and a history of violence as his elders hid in the wilderness to avoid deportation to Oklahoma. Alka comes from a Bible abiding family with a history of domestic violence and no respect for women.