Betty
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Dale Dickey
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By:
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Tiffany McDaniel
About this listen
A stunning, lyrical novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians about a young girl and the family truths that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
“A girl comes of age against the knife.”
So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a white mother and a Cherokee father, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings. The world they inhabit in the rural town of Breathed, Ohio, is one of poverty and violence—both from outside the family and, devastatingly, from within. But despite the hardships 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 to which she bears witness, Betty discovers an escape: she begins to write.
Inspired by generations of her family, Tiffany McDaniel sets out to free the past by delivering this heartbreaking yet magical story—a remarkable novel that establishes her as one of the most important voices in American fiction.
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Critic reviews
One of the Best Books of the Year: The Guardian, Glamour, Goop
An Entertainment Weekly Must-Read
An Indie Next "Great Read for September"
O Magazine's "Best Books to Pick Up Before Summer Ends"
Entertainment Weekly's "20 Late-Summer Must-Reads for August"
E! Online's "17 Books to Check Out Before the End of Summer"
Sheerluxe's "Six New Books to Read This August"
Salon's "Provocative Must-Reads for August"
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
“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
“Fierce, vividly realized . . . McDaniel doesn’t shy away from depicting horrors, especially those that breed within a family . . . Betty’s story is searingly hard to bear, but the rewards of getting to know her make up for her pain.” —The Columbus Dispatch
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Gypsies, faith-healers, moonshiners, and snake handlers weave through Drema's childhood in 1940s Appalachia after her father is killed in the coal mines, her mother goes off to work as a Rosie the Riveter, and she is left in the care of devout Pentecostal grandparents. What follows is a spitfire of a memoir that feels like a novel with intrigue, sweeping emotion, and indisputable charm. Drema's coming of age is colored by tent revivals with Grandpa, poetry-writing hobos, and traveling carnivals, and through it all, she serves witness to a multi-generational family.
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Narrator’s attempt at a southern accent distracting to story
- By Ryan C. Bango on 01-05-22
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Godshot
- A Novel
- By: Chelsea Bieker
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Drought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen-year-old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now it's an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret "assignments," to bring the rain everybody is praying for.
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flawless novel, not the best narration
- By Adrienne on 05-05-20
By: Chelsea Bieker
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She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
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Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
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Mecca
- By: Susan Straight
- Narrated by: Patricia R. Floyd, Frankie Corzo, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Johnny Frías has California in his blood. A descendant of the state’s indigenous people and Mexican settlers, he has Southern California’s forgotten towns and canyons in his soul. He spends his days as a highway patrolman pulling over speeders, ignoring their racist insults, and pushing past the trauma of his rookie year, when he killed a man assaulting a young woman named Bunny, who ran from the scene, leaving Johnny without a witness.
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An eye opening read
- By Anonymous User on 10-10-22
By: Susan Straight
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The Gospel Singer
- By: Harry Crews, Kevin Wilson - foreword
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A gifted, idolized singer returns to his poor hometown and a life and family he is so far removed from he now holds them in contempt. The Gospel Singer reveals the absurdity of blind religious faith and idol worship and the hypocrisy that results with the offering of money or sex. Crews grapples with race, gender, religion, and place and steps back to divulge the secrets of his characters - including a dead girl awaiting the gospel singer’s melodious eulogy, his dysfunctional family, a murderer, the zealous town residents, and a traveling freak show.
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The gospel singer
- By L. Welsh on 07-13-22
By: Harry Crews, and others
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Cane
- By: Jean Toomer
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1923, Jean Toomer's Cane is an innovative literary work powerfully evoking black life in the South. Rich in imagery, Toomer's impressionistic, sometimes surrealistic sketches of Southern rural and urban life are permeated by visions of smoke, sugarcane, dusk, and fire; the northern world is pictured as a harsher reality of asphalt streets.
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When Robots Read, and I'm a Fan of Robots...
- By Jonathan on 03-26-13
By: Jean Toomer
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Provinces of Night
- By: William Gay
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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E.F. Bloodworth has returned to his home - a forgotten corner of Tennessee - after 20 years of roaming. The wife he walked out on has withered and faded, his three sons are grown and angry. Warren is a womanizing alcoholic, Boyd is driven by jealousy to hunt down his wife's lover, and Brady puts hexes on his enemies from his mamma's porch. Only Fleming, the old man's grandson, treats him with the respect his age commands, and sees past all the hatred to realize the way it can posion a man's soul.
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Story and Narration a perfect match
- By 99hedys on 10-03-15
By: William Gay
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The Plague of Doves
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation.
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Avoid this Plague
- By Andre on 05-16-08
By: Louise Erdrich
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Sula
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Nel and Sula's devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.
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Good against evil and a riotous story to boot
- By Karen on 04-11-11
By: Toni Morrison
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The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
- By: Eudora Welty
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat, Jessica Almasy, Victor Bevine, and others
- Length: 32 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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This complete collection includes all of the published stories of Eudora Welty. There are 41 stories in all, including those in the earlier collections A Curtain of Green, The Wide Net, The Golden Apples, and The Bride of the Innisfallen, as well as previously uncollected stories.
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Too Good For Audio
- By Yennta on 06-18-12
By: Eudora Welty
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Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All
- By: Laura Ruby
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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When Frankie’s mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary - just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That’s why Frankie's not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket. Now, Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans - two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive.
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Boring, boring, boring
- By Marie J. on 08-20-21
By: Laura Ruby
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Prayers for the Stolen
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Clement
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Ladydi Garcia Martinez was born into a world where being a girl is a dangerous thing. In the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, women must fend for themselves, as their men have left to seek opportunities elsewhere. While her mother waits in vain for her husband's return, Ladydi and her friends dream of a future that holds more promise than mere survival, finding humor, solidarity, and fun in the face of so much tragedy. When Ladydi is offered work as a nanny for a wealthy family in Acapulco, she seizes the chance and finds her first taste of love with a young caretaker there.
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I don’t know how to feel about this...
- By Candice on 01-21-21
By: Jennifer Clement
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The Saturday Night Ghost Club
- A Novel
- By: Craig Davidson
- Narrated by: Corey Brill
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls - a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place - Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns 12, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly light-hearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined.
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Emotionless
- By Noura on 10-18-20
By: Craig Davidson
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What listeners say about Betty
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-09-20
Fantastic storytelling
Betty is a story ultimately about resilience in the face of violence. It’s about family and the flawed people within and their secrets. At times I found that a lot of the characters were hard to like but not hard to love and have some compassion for and some hatred for. At times I found myself having to fast forward, some scenes were too hard to hear and to violent to handle for me. Some left me feeling raw. I always had to prepare myself for the next chapter whether it would be kindness I’d hear or cruelty. Guess that’s how life works sometimes!
Ultimately, I loved this book and I want to get the hard copy!
Dale Dickey did a great job narrating and had a range with the characters. What an amazing voice!!!
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- Sarai
- 05-01-21
Sad but not oppressive
It took me a couple of months to get through this book because there is so much sadness and trauma. But I cared very much for (most of) the characters, so I continued to return. It only gets sadder and sadder with more and more frequency as you get towards the end. It’s not a light read. There is a lot of rhythm to the prose, though delivered by an unconvincing performance. The accent sounds like Appalachia to me? Definitely southern which was a little distracting. But not appallingly so. I recommend.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-19-21
Beautiful Story
For me this was simply a beautiful story that takes its time to unfold. It has characters that are deep that you grow to love and hate. If you’re looking to take your time and just listen to a well crafted story then definitely listen to “Betty”.
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- L. Randall
- 05-26-21
Betty's story
This book was full of devastating truths and darkness. Nothing I love more than a story that doesn't have the typical happy ending. This is based on a true story about a girl growing up with a poor and dysfunctional family that fights every day to survive and they are always fighting their own demons. Betty is the focus of the story and we follow her childhood journey on a bumpy ride. I rooted for Betty, I cried for Betty, I wished a different life for Betty. I felt like I knew her and wanted so badly to protect her. The author is Betty's daughter so this book felt so alive and real.
This book is not for the faint of heart or someone who wants to see a happy family united. It has some events that are hard to read. I would highly suggest reading this book however. It is one that you can't ignore. It makes you feel so many emotions.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-10-23
Beautiful written
This book is a heartfelt story that was beautifully written. I highly recommend this book.
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- Mellatrix
- 01-11-21
Amazing! One of the most beautifully written books I have ever experienced!
Do not miss the opportunity to read or listen to this book. It is fantastic.
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- SistaMoonShine
- 03-23-21
Beautiful Story
yes this a sad story but it's beautifully written. A writer writes to be heard and I am honored to have read this book.
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- Lynn Cornelissen
- 05-26-22
Absolutely incredible
Addictive and bewitching read. I truly couldn’t recommend this book enough. Cannot wait to reread this one.
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- Jessica Cavanaugh
- 01-07-23
Incredible Ride
First, the narrator who read did an amazing job. The story itself is riveting. I cried, I laughed, I cussed out loud, I grieved, and I felt every inch of the words as she spoke them. The writing is beautiful and the story is worth reading. Excellent read for my first book of 2023. I can not wait to read the authors new book On the Savage Side.
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- Jami
- 10-27-22
Excellent Audio Book
This book was soooooo good! I received a print copy in a Goodreads giveaway and I purchased the audio do I could experience it both ways. The audio brought the characters to life so I heard their voices as I was reading. Thank you to the giveaway sponsor for introducing me to a new (to me) author. The writing and character development were superb; you either love or hate the characters. This book deals with difficult issues, so it was heartwarming and bittersweet at times. The love of family came through as did the complex family relationships. The Cherokee stories were quite interesting and I loved Landon’s character and his relationship with Betty. I am looking forward to reading her prior book and the other that is coming out soon.
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