Betty

3
 
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden.
  Song of Solomon 4:16
 
Ozark, Arkansas. A place of deep green wilderness on the edge of mountains. It is where I was born and where we returned to after Lint came into the world. We lived in a small house Dad had partially built on a concrete foundation. The walls were not yet up, so the insulation showed while tarp hung from the unfinished roof. In between building the house, Dad sold moonshine and worked underground like a mole along with the other coal miners.
 
The only one of us kids not living at home was Leland. He was twenty by then and had already been gone two years after enlisting in the army at eighteen. He was currently stationed in Korea. He would write letters to Mom and Dad. Leland never wrote about anything related to the army or the reasons he was stationed in any particular place. He would write about things that made it seem like he was on a trip.
 
I did some fishing the other day, he wrote. I used a Korean fishing pole. It s called a gyeonji. Caught a fish that looked like one of the bass back home.
 
In his own letters, Dad would update Leland on where we were.
 
In Arkansas now, Dad wrote in his sideways cursive. Lots of blue sage and coneflowers. I don t see much of it. Underground, there is only rock and crust. That s what I get for being a miner.
 
The mines were not near to our house, so Dad would take the train and stay in a tent outside to save on expense. Days would go by before we d hear from him again.
 
The afternoon he called, I was on my belly on the plywood floor. Scattered around me were crayons Dad had molded out of beeswax and tinted with things like coffee or blackberries. When the phone started to ring, I picked up the red crayon and continued writing.
 
Jesus Crimson. Get the goddamn phone, Betty. Mom s voice came from the kitchen.
 
I grabbed the receiver.
 
I was writin

Tiffany McDaniel

NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD WINNER THE SOCIETY OF MIDLAND AUTHORS AWARD WINNER OHIOANA LIBRARY READERS CHOICE AWARDS WINNER FRIENDS OF AMERICAN WRITERS CHICAGO WINNER LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

Innovative . . . devastating. . . . A brilliant, expansive exploration of family and grief.  
The Guardian

The book is rich with the texture of everyday living. It s these details that sing Betty to life and bring readers fully into the Appalachian landscape and the social milieu of Breathed.  
The Los Angeles Times

Breathtaking.
Vogue

Prepare to be undone. . . . This is one of those rare books . . . that is so stunning, so beautiful, so piercing, you could never forget it. . . . Wow, wow, wow.
Goop

Sumptuous and intimate.
O, The Oprah Magazine

This book will break your heart open, in the best way.
Good Housekeeping

A traditional beach read this is not unless your idea of a beach read involves ugly sobbing for a few hundred pages. But [Betty] is so beautiful you won't care about the tears.  
Entertainment Weekly

Gorgeous. . . . A plaintive coming of age narrative.  
Glamour

Fierce, vividly realized.
The Columbus Dispatch

Members of this hardscrabble family stride through their Ohio community like minor gods, leaving amazement in their wake. Highly recommended; a coming-of-age novel that is a treat for lovers of stylistic prose.
Library Journal

Epic, lyrical . . . McDaniel s sophomore work is a sweeping and heart-wrenching exploration of how we understand our parents lives and how our children will one day understand our own.  
Booklist (starred review)