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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Violence including sexual assault of children, racial violence, and death throughout the family's life
Language
A lot
Strong language including period racial slurs
Sexual Content
A lot
Child sexual abuse depicted within the family; extremely disturbing
Substance Use
Some
Significant substance use in the Appalachian poverty setting
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
The cumulative trauma of a childhood defined by abuse, poverty, and loss — and the extraordinary interior life Betty builds to survive — creates profound and painful psychological engagement
What this book is about
Tiffany McDaniel's novel is narrated by Betty Carpenter, born in 1954 to a half-Cherokee father and white mother, growing up in rural Appalachia in devastating poverty. The novel is unflinching about sexual abuse — Betty's father sexually abuses her siblings, and Betty survives by writing — and about racial violence, death, and the extraordinary resilience required just to exist. Lush, mythic prose offsets the darkness. One of the most devastating and beautiful American novels of the 2020s. Strictly for adult readers.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Child sexual abuse within family depicted
Racial violence and slurs
Extreme poverty and trauma
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