diff --git a/src/arraytypes/fixedsizelist.jl b/src/arraytypes/fixedsizelist.jl
index 9393049a..d032299b 100644
--- a/src/arraytypes/fixedsizelist.jl
+++ b/src/arraytypes/fixedsizelist.jl
@@ -31,15 +31,29 @@ Base.size(l::FixedSizeList) = (l.ℓ,)
 
 @propagate_inbounds function Base.getindex(l::FixedSizeList{T}, i::Integer) where {T}
     @boundscheck checkbounds(l, i)
-    N = ArrowTypes.getsize(Base.nonmissingtype(T))
-    off = (i - 1) * N
-    if Base.nonmissingtype(T) !== T
-        return l.validity[i] ? ArrowTypes.arrowconvert(T, ntuple(j->l.data[off + j], N)) : missing
+    X = Base.nonmissingtype(T)
+    N = ArrowTypes.getsize(X)
+    Y = ArrowTypes.gettype(X)
+    if X !== T && !(l.validity[i])
+        return missing
     else
-        return ArrowTypes.arrowconvert(T, ntuple(j->l.data[off + j], N))
+        off = (i - 1) * N
+        if X === T && isbitstype(Y)
+            tup = _unsafe_load_tuple(NTuple{N,Y}, l.data, off + 1)
+        else
+            tup = ntuple(j->l.data[off + j], N)
+        end
+        return ArrowTypes.arrowconvert(T, tup)
     end
 end
 
+function _unsafe_load_tuple(::Type{NTuple{N,T}}, bytes::Vector{UInt8}, i::Integer) where {N,T}
+    x = Ref(bytes, i)
+    y = Ref{NTuple{N,T}}()
+    ArrowTypes._unsafe_cast!(y, x, N)
+    return y[]
+end
+
 @propagate_inbounds function Base.setindex!(l::FixedSizeList{T}, v::T, i::Integer) where {T}
     @boundscheck checkbounds(l, i)
     if v === missing
diff --git a/src/arrowtypes.jl b/src/arrowtypes.jl
index 76083ed8..b04a6130 100644
--- a/src/arrowtypes.jl
+++ b/src/arrowtypes.jl
@@ -73,19 +73,24 @@ ArrowType(::Type{UUID}) = FixedSizeListType()
 gettype(::Type{UUID}) = UInt8
 getsize(::Type{UUID}) = 16
 
-function _unsafe_cast(::Type{B}, a::A)::B where {B,A}
-    a = Ref(a)
-    b = Ref{B}()
-    GC.@preserve a b begin
-        ptra = Base.unsafe_convert(Ptr{A}, a)
-        ptrb = Base.unsafe_convert(Ptr{B}, b)
-        unsafe_copyto!(Ptr{A}(ptrb), ptra, 1)
+function _cast(::Type{Y}, x)::Y where {Y}
+    y = Ref{Y}()
+    _unsafe_cast!(y, Ref(x), 1)
+    return y[]
+end
+
+function _unsafe_cast!(y::Ref{Y}, x::Ref, n::Integer) where {Y}
+    X = eltype(x)
+    GC.@preserve x y begin
+        ptr_x = Base.unsafe_convert(Ptr{X}, x)
+        ptr_y = Base.unsafe_convert(Ptr{Y}, y)
+        unsafe_copyto!(Ptr{X}(ptr_y), ptr_x, n)
     end
-    return b[]
+    return y
 end
 
-arrowconvert(::Type{NTuple{16,UInt8}}, u::UUID) = _unsafe_cast(NTuple{16,UInt8}, u.value)
-arrowconvert(::Type{UUID}, u::NTuple{16,UInt8}) = UUID(_unsafe_cast(UInt128, u))
+arrowconvert(::Type{NTuple{16,UInt8}}, u::UUID) = _cast(NTuple{16,UInt8}, u.value)
+arrowconvert(::Type{UUID}, u::NTuple{16,UInt8}) = UUID(_cast(UInt128, u))
 
 # These methods are included as deprecation paths to allow reading Arrow files that may have
 # been written before Arrow.jl's current UUID <-> NTuple{16,UInt8} mapping existed (in which case