'NOT A STORY YOU WILL SOON FORGET' Karen Joy Fowler, author of Man Booker Prize finalist We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Start reading Betty by Tiffany McDaniel.
Prologue
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. — Philippians 1:3
I’m still a child, only as tall as my father’s shotgun. Dad’s asking me to bring it with me as I go out to where he is resting on the hood of the car. He lifts the shotgun out of my hands and lays it across his lap. When I sit next to him, I can feel the heat coming off his skin like he’s a tin roof in summer.
I don’t mind that his fragrance is sweat and grease from working on the car or that the tomato seeds, left over from his afternoon lunch in the garden, fall from his chin and land on my arm. The tiny seeds cling to my flesh and rise above it like Braille on a page.
“My heart is made of glass,” he says as he starts to roll a cigarette. “My heart is made of glass and if I ever lose you, Betty, my heart will break into more hurt than eternity would have time to heal.”
I reach into his pouch of tobacco and rub the dry leaves, feeling each as if it were its own animal, alive and moving from fingertip to fingertip.
“What’s a glass heart like, Dad?” I ask because I feel like the answer will be greater than I can ever imagine.
“A hollow piece of glass shaped like a heart,” he says as if his voice is rising over the hills around us.
“Is the glass red, Dad?”
“It’s as red as the dress you’re wearin’ right now, Betty.”
“But how is a piece of glass inside us?”
“It’s hangin’ in there from a sweet little string. Within the glass is the bird God caught all the way up in heaven.”
“Why’d He put a bird in there?” I ask.
“So a little piece of heaven would always be in our hearts. Safest place for a piece of heaven, I reckon.”
“What type of bird, Dad?”
“Well, Little Indian,” he says, striking the match against the sandpaper ribbon on his wide-brimmed hat to light his cigarette, “I think she’d be a glitterin’ bird and her whole body would shine like little fires of light the way Dorothy’s ruby slippers did in that movie.”
“What movie?”
“The Wizard of Oz. Remember Toto?”
“The little black dog?”
“That’s right.” He lays my head against his chest. “Do you hear that? Thumpity, thump. Do you know what that sound is? Thumpity, thump, thump.”
“It’s the beatin’ of your heart.”
“It’s the noise of the little bird flappin’ her wings.”
“The bird?” I hold my hand over my own chest. “What happens to the bird, Dad?”
“You mean when we die?” He squints at me as if my face has become the sun.
“Yes, when we die, Dad.”
“Well, the glass heart opens, like a locket, and the bird flies out to lead us to heaven so we don’t get lost. It’s very easy to get lost on the way to a place you’ve never been before.”
I keep my ear against his chest, listening to the steady beating.
“Dad?” I ask. “Does everyone have glass hearts?”
“Nope.” He takes a drag on his cigarette. “Just me and you, Little Indian. Just me and you.”
He tells me to lean back and cover my ears. With the cigarette hanging in the corner of his mouth, he raises the shotgun and shoots.
Betty by Tiffany McDaniel is out now.
-
A stunning, lyrical novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians in which a young girl discovers stark truths that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Latest news
Book Club Guide for Rat Daniels
Questions for your group to discuss this stand-out Australian debut.
Authors on the Road for Book Week 2026
A snapshot of just some of all the activity around Australia!
Read an extract of Alma Vampires
Start reading the new paranormal romance series!
Amy Remeikis is going on tour!
Enter the Fantasy Realm
Hachette Australia, with The Realm, presents ENTER THE FANTASY REALM! Join Tigest Girma, Louisa Carmody and Christy Anne Jones in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to talk all things fantasy.
Read an Extract: Middle Rage
Part confessional, part manifesto, Middle Rage is full of Myf Warhurst's humour, warmth and wisdom, with some tips thrown in to help women live their best middle-aged lives.
In the Good Books with Luke Bateman - Hachette Recommended Reads
Explore our featured reads on the In the Good Books podcast
Start Reading No One's Looking
Read an extract from No One's Looking, a comedic and uplifting novel from bestselling author Brooke Davis. Out October 13 2026!
Hachette Memories of Lost & Found
Our staff share how special Brooke Davis' debut was - we’d love to hear your memories too!
Brooke Davis' Letter to Booksellers
The lovely Brooke, a bookseller herself, checks in with her colleagues across Australia to say a big hello.
Alice Oseman is coming to ANZ!
Information on Alice Oseman's - author of Heartstopper - trip to Australia and New Zealand.
Read an extract from The Doubles
Dive into this fast-paced, genre-bending debut!
Q&A with Penny Sunday
Meet Aussie dark romance author Penny Sunday!
Read an extract from The Wretched Divine
From the bestselling author of Belladonna
.png?w=440&h=247&fit=crop&auto=compress%2cformat&dpr=2)
Ashleigh Barton's Letter to Readers
Ahead of Eighty-Nine Questions for After, Ashleigh shares her thoughts on why sad books are so important for kids.
Read an extract of True Crime
Start reading Patricia Cornwell's thrilling memoir
The Richell Prize Opens 2026
Announcing this year's round of The Richell Prize
Mum's Shelf, Sorted
Happy Mother's Day!
Read an extract from The Chateau on Sunset
Read the new book from bestselling author Natasha Lester
Read an extract from Rat Daniels
Dive into this unforgettable coming-of-age story from a stunning new voice in Australian fiction
Book Club Questions for Margaret, Are You Leaving?
We hope these questions help guide your book club discussion for this heartfelt novel. We’ve done our best to avoid spoilers, but don’t read these questions unless you’ve finished Margaret, Are You Leaving? – you don’t want to risk ruining any reveals!
Welcome to the World of Donovan Bixley
Entertain the kids at home
Read an Extract from Rebirth: A Love Story From the Depths of War
Antoun Issa powerfully captures his mother's true experiences of love, heartbreak and new hope during the violence of civil war.
Celebrating our CBCA 2026 Notables
The Children's Book Council of Australia's 2026 Notables list has been announced!
Find a book you'll love, get our newsletter
Hachette Australia acknowledges and pays our respects to the past, present and future Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Our head office is located on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
© Hachette Australia, All Rights Reserved · Site by Chook