A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl: A Novel

by Nanda Reddy

Overview

An Apple Books Best Book of March
An Apple Books Favorite Debut for March
A National Bestseller

A girl takes on a series of identities to survive, shrouding herself in layers of secrets, until years later when she is forced to reckon with her past.

On an ordinary day in an upscale Atlanta suburb, Maya is making breakfast for her two sons, when her husband drops a letter on the counter and asks a devastating question: Who is Sunny?

As she frantically weighs the impact of the truth on her future, Maya relives the details of her childhood journey to America from Guyana—and the traumatic events that forced her to leave her past behind. Through the eyes of Maya’s innocent and scared younger self, we discover the power of hope, empathy, and the possibility of beginning again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798989532513
Publisher:	Zibby Publishing
Publication date:	03/04/2025
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Nanda Reddy is a Guyanese American writer and former elementary school teacher. She immigrated to the United States with her family when she was nine years old. She loves visiting off-the-grid places, hiking, and painting with watercolors. She currently resides in Reno, Nevada, with her husband and two sons. A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl is her first novel. 

Editorial Reviews

A kaleidoscopic investigation of identity and its shaping forces, A Girl Within A Girl Within A Girl explores what happens when you're forced to confront the past you thought you left behind. A riveting story of one woman's journey to build and protect her life, Nanda Reddy's debut will hold you in its grasp until the final page.”
—Alina Grabowski, author of Women and Children First

“An urgent and necessary novel. Set in the 1980s, Reddy’s story of a young trafficking victim could just as easily have taken place today. As bighearted as it is heartbreaking, A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl does not dwell in darkness. This is a story rich in empathy, riveting, and redemptive.”
—Leyna Krow, author of Fire Season

“Propulsive and gripping, in A Girl Within A Girl Within A Girl, Nanda Reddy has crafted a vivid account of a harrowing journey into womanhood. Reddy's dynamic narrative seamlessly weaves a coming-of-age tale with a turbulent and suspenseful account of migration. This edge-of-your-seat read packs quite a punch.”
—Mai Sennaar, author of They Dream In Gold

“A many layered musing on what identity truly means, A Girl Within A Girl Within A Girl peels back its complex, powerful heroine’s folds with slow precision, revealing an explosive, shocking story that ultimately transforms into an ode to love.”
—Nayantara Roy, author of The Magnificent Ruins

From the Publisher

2024-12-28
A trafficked woman wrestles with her identity amid her traumatic upbringing.

Maya Augustina is a dental hygienist and married mother of two boys in Atlanta when she gets a communication from her past—a letter from her sister, Roshini, explaining that their mother has died from breast cancer, Roshini has it, too, and that Maya should get checked for the gene. This sends Maya into a tailspin—and not just for the obvious reasons. Roshini’s letter is addressed to Sunny, a name Maya hasn’t heard in decades, and includes the line “I never believe the lies about you.” On that intriguing note, the reader is transported back to Maya’s childhood in 1985 Guyana. Sunita “Sunny” Kissoon is her sister’s protector, enjoys playing in the cane fields, and adores her snooty friend’s Barbie dolls. Then Sunny’s family sends her to the United States posing as Neena Das, a dead girl whose parents had already arranged to emigrate, and whom she eerily resembles. She could pay off her passage by working for the Dases, and then she could start sending money home, her father says. Sunny is filled with equal parts excitement and dread. For Sunny to safely live in the U.S., she must leave all parts of herself behind, including her name, and fully become Neena. In Miami, she’s forced to work all day as a maid and farm laborer while living with her quasi–foster parents, the real Neena’s callous and unloving mother, Lila, and father, Prem, whose cruelty—immediately suspected by the reader—is slowly revealed to Neena. Neena, under various pseudonyms that she takes on at different life stages, must deal with the run-of-the-mill trials of adolescence, contend with untold trauma, and wrestle with who she is and where she belongs. And while Reddy puts much more care into developing her character’s early years than her adult ones, the story is too important and gripping to put down.

A coming-of-age story that is at once shocking and necessary.

Kirkus Reviews