A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl by Nanda Reddy
A stirring, thought-provoking book that will leave readers clamoring for more.
A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl is the triumphant debut novel by Guyanese-American writer Nanda Reddy that grabs one’s attention from the first paragraph. It’s the potent story of Maya Augustina, a wife and mother with a career as a dental hygienist/office manager who resides in an upscale Atlanta neighborhood and works hard to achieve a semblance of a busy and happy lifestyle.
Maya’s past is buried deeply in shameful secrets about the soul-shattering traumatic events that shaped her early years. For self-preservation, she severed all ties with her birth family in Guyana and even the loyal friends who had helped her when no one else would. It has seemed too dangerous to tell the truth to her beloved husband Dwayne, fearing he would reject her.
The roof on her carefully protected world is about to cave in when an envelope covered in colorful foreign stamps is delivered to their home. It is addressed to “Sunny,” who hasn’t been allowed to exist for many years. Maya’s carefully contrived “origin” story will be exposed, putting all she holds dear at risk.
Before the day ends, the couple will face the truth in an hour-long, no-holds-barred conversation. It is a densely layered, multi-faceted tale of inner strength and love gained from precious found families — the people who share heartstrings instead of blood ties.
A Girl Forced to Grow Up Too Early
Sunita “Sunny” Kissoon, an Indo-Guyanese girl born on October 31, 1972, has survived by spinning lies about her background motivated by reasons beyond her control, which date back to the time she was 12 years old.
She was the dependable middle child with ten siblings and heavy responsibilities burdening young shoulders that made her mature well beyond her years. Her mother was preoccupied with tending the latest baby and her husband, so the younger siblings relied on Sunny and her two-year-older deaf sister and best friend, Roshini “Roshi,” to keep them fed, clean and clothed.
Sunny ably communicated with Roshi through sign language and served as her intermediary. While grating coconut or shaping bread dough for roti, which was part of the family’s nightly meal of fish curry, the sisters talk of one day eating the most exotic fruit they can imagine: apples. Ever reliable, Sunny has helped to plant and tend the family garden plot, cook meals, sew and mend clothing since she was small. She is highly intelligent and quick-witted; a sensitive, caring child who loves school and does well in her lessons.
Death, Debt and an Unexpected Scheme
Mr. Kissoon, her father, is a dreamer and schemer who prefers gambling and drinking over working steadily.
It became Sunny’s misfortune that she closely resembled the passport photo of 15-year-old Neema Das, who had been living with her grandmother in Ghana for so long that her US residence visa had expired. Instead of taking the sensible legal route of re-applying, Neema’s parents, who reside in Miami, had already paid $2500 to a smuggler and human trafficker to return her to the States. Unfortunately, Neema fell ill and had died shortly before the planned flight.
Mahindra Prasad, aka Mr. Michael, who had known Sunny’s father since they were schoolboys, cooked up a scheme to bilk him as well as the teenager’s parents. Mr. Kissoon believed smuggling his daughter to America would be his golden ticket and eventually provide the family with an opportunity to escape their hardscrabble impoverished life in Guyana. He turned over $500, their entire life savings, with a wishful promise to repay the dead child’s parents the funds they had expended at some later, undefined date.
Trafficked into a House of Horrors
Mr. Kissoon’s blind faith in this border-running con man resulted in the innocent Sunny — now, Neema — being trafficked to Prem Das, a fellow countryman and violent sexual predator. Prem’s wife Lila is so downtrodden from regular severe beatings that she is unable or unwilling to shield the girl who is to replace her dead daughter.
Senny/Neema endured 3 years of unimaginable terror, enslaved to this couple who put her to work cooking and cleaning for them as well as cleaning houses with Lila who was a maid to several families. In addition, Neema worked in the garden center next door.
Prem resentfully worked for the Hernandez family, who owned the busines,s which was a combination nursery where they grew flowers and vegetables, made floral arrangements and operated a farmer’s market. This warm and happy, hard-working family lived in a well-maintained trailer adjacent to their workplace next door to the Das family’s house of horrors, a rundown trailer.
It wasn’t long before he began to sexually abuse Neema, who had been forced to continue the pretense that she was already 15 — 3 years older than her actual age.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Friendship and help from unexpected quarters provided sanity and greater security. Yvonne Hernandez befriended Sunny, who began to have dinner and sleep over at their home to get away from the maniacal Prem. Yvonne introduced her to the benefits of thrift shopping for cheap, stylish clothing and to the pleasure of dancing at clubs using fake IDs.
Janna Carter, one of Lila’s regular housecleaning clients, took an interest in Neema, who accompanied and worked alongside her “mother”. Janna, an assertive and outspoken well-to-do white woman who worked at the local middle school, insisted Neema be enrolled in school. She stood up to Prem, threatening to report him to the authorities for child neglect. Janna also arranged for tutors when it became clear Neema was not yet ready for 8th-grade classes.
Neema thrived and blossomed in school, finding satisfaction in the work and sanctuary in the library and the social activities. She met Marcus there, her first tentative boyfriend, a sweet black boy from an affluent family.
Human trafficker Mr. Michael remained a threat, coming around to demand money and threatening to arrange a marriage for her when she turned 16. He also collected what funds he could from her family in Guyana while spreading lies about her “good life” with Prem and Lila and exaggerating her innocent friendship with Marcus to her racist father.
Her dad referred to their Afro-Guyanese countrymen and Black Americans with the slur “Dougla,” reflecting the intense prejudice and bigotry in their Indo-Guyanese community. Mr. Michael and her family were the only ones who knew Neema Das was really illegal immigrant Sunny. He is the man she fears most.
The Death of Sunny, the Birth of Maya
Although she lived in constant fear of exposure, by using the dead girl’s credentials, Neema was ultimately able to obtain legal residency and US citizenship as her “mother,” Lila, was able to prove her own legitimate status through an amnesty program as her previously issued visas and permits had expired.
Suddenly, Sunny had never existed and soon Neema Das vanished as well when Neema legally changed her name to Maya Augustina before fleeing from Miami to Jacksonville, Florida. A small tattoo on her ankle states, “Begin again.”
What followed were distinctly rough patches involving sex, drugs and alcohol and a stint as an exotic dancer in a strip club using the name “Synthia”. One of the club regulars, a police officer, assisted her with Prem, who had tracked her to the club.
A Happy Ending — Or So She Thought
Maya was still well underage at 15-16 years but brimmed with bravura. After obtaining her GED, she enrolled in college, earning a Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene, and met her husband Dwayne in the university library. It was love at first sight for both of them. They married soon after graduation and moved into a lovely home in Atlanta where they are raising their two sons, 11-year-old Camden, who was born deaf, and 7-year-old Nico.
Dwayne is a tall, strikingly handsome black man who went into his father’s investment brokerage business. His sister Denise became Maya’s best friend, with whom she partnered in maintaining a cooking blog in addition to their careers. The entire family is a success story, with Cousin Vernon a prominent cancer researcher and Cousin-in-law Todd a corporate attorney who previously worked in the DA’s office. Dwayne’s parents are about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
Life has been rich and sweet, but will it all come to a crashing end as Sunny/Neema/Synthia/Maya is exposed as an illegal immigrant and victim of human trafficking who may be facing deportation and blacklisted from re-entering the United States for up to 10 years?
Readers, you will not want to miss a word.
Multi-Layered Narrative with Rich Background
Nanda Reddy has written an imaginative and fascinating story of good triumphing over evil in A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl, delving into the dangerous, clandestine underworld of human smugglers who profit off human misery. Her protagonist Maya is far more fortunate than most young girls trafficked. They are often unable to escape their circumstances, becoming prostitutes, drug or alcohol abusers, and/or criminals, and many wind up dead.
The author also provides observations and vivid descriptions of her ancestral home, Guyana, whose name means “land of many waters.” This small country on the northern coast of South America, formerly known as British Guiana, has been part of the British Caribbean Commonwealth since it gained independence in May 1966. The population is sparse; less than 875,000 with the majority centered in and around the capital Georgetown in a country that is 80% covered in tropical forest.
Great Britain had transported large numbers of captured slaves from West Africa to work on sugarcane plantations and in forestry. Their Slavery Abolition Act took effect in 1834, and that institution was fully eradicated by 1838, creating a demand for a new labor force. Thus began the Indian diaspora in Guyana, arriving between 1838 and 1917 to replace the Africans in plantation work. Approximately 239,000 indentured immigrants who primarily came from the states in Northern India were transported on over 500 ships to resettle here.
Indian Arrival Day is celebrated on May 5th to commemorate the arrival of the first ship in 1838. They have preserved Indian culture and traditions for nearly two centuries through music, dance, attire and food and are multi-cultural in their celebration of holidays including Diwali, Christmas, Easter and Eid al-Fitr. The Indo-Guyanese represent 40% of the country’s population and are involved in every aspect of society, agriculture, business and government.
The official language of Guyana remains English, with Guyanese Creole a first language for many. Most speak several languages, including one or more of the ten indigenous dialects. When fictional Sunny Kissoon was born, the country was impoverished, having only a small middle class with an even smaller wealthy populace in control. Agriculture and the mining of bauxite and gold provided work for the laboring class. It was not until years after her immigration to the USA that large reserves of offshore oil were discovered, which greatly elevated the country’s economic standing.
A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl is a stirring, thought-provoking book that will leave readers clamoring for more from Nanda Reddy.
Nanda Reddy is a Guyanese-American writer and former teacher. In her teaching days, she co-wrote 180 Days to Successful Writers, a day-to-day writing curriculum best suited for elementary classrooms. A Girl Within A Girl Within A Girl is her debut novel.
Publish Date: 3/4/2025
Genre: Fiction
Author: Nanda Reddy
Page Count: 384 pages
Publisher: Zibby Publishing
ISBN: 9798989532513