Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

Please note that this book is (at least in my opinion) amazing, but there are numerous heartbreaking trigger warnings (incest, rape, violence) that some readers may want to be aware of. The author does not shy away from writing about certain brutalities witnesses by the narrator. \IN PARTICULAR, IF YOU WANT TO AVOID READING ABOUT ANIMAL CRUELTY, WHEN YOU GET TO A CHAPTER THAT DISCUSSES A CAT, SKIP TO THE NEXT CHAPTER\ Summary from Goodreads: "A girl comes of age against the knife." So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings. The world they inhabit is one of poverty and violence--both from outside the family, and also, devastatingly, from within. The lush landscape, rich with birdsong, wild fruit, and 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 imagination, 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.