A stunning, lyrical coming-of-age novel set in the rolling foothills of
the Appalachians in which a young girl, with only the compass of her
father's imagination, must navigate racism, sexism, and the dark secrets
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
Arkansas in 1954 to a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is the sixth
of eight siblings. The world they inhabit is one of poverty, racism, abuse,
and violence--both from outside the family, and also, devastatingly, from
within. After years on the road, searching in vain for a better life, the
Carpenters return to their hometown of Breathed, Ohio, in northern
Appalachia. There, they move into a sprawling wreck of a farmhouse that
local legend says is cursed. The townsfolk decide the Carpenters are
cursed, too: My mother gave birth to eight of us, Betty tells us in her
frank, wry voice. More than one would die for no good reason in the
prizewinning years of their youth. Some blamed God for taking too few.
Others accused the Devil of leaving too many. But Betty is resilient. Her
father's inventive stories are kindling for the fire of her own imagination
and even in the face of tragedy and death, her creativity is irrepressible.
Against overwhelming odds, she may be the first member of her family to
break the cycle of abuse and trauma--and escape--