A THOUSAND TIMES BEFORE

July 9, 2024 from Viking Books

a July 2024 Book Of The Month

A heartrending family saga following three generations of women connected by a fantastic tapestry through which they inherit the experiences of those that lived before them, sweeping readers from Partition-era India to modern day Brooklyn.

Order from Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and more.

Ayukta is finally sitting down with her wife Nadya to respond to a question she’s long avoided: Should they have a child? The decision is complicated by a secret her family has kept for centuries, one that Ayukta will be the first to share with someone outside their bloodline: the women in her family inherit a mysterious tapestry, through which each generation can experience the memories of those who came before her.

Ayukta invites Nadya into this lineage, carrying her through its past. She relives her grandmother Amla’s life: Once a happy child in Karachi, Amla migrates to Gujarat during Partition, witnessing violence and loss that forever shape her approach to marriage and motherhood. Amla’s daughter, Arni, bears this weight in her own blood in 1974, when gender equity and urban class distinctions divide the community as a bold student movement takes hold. As Ayukta unspools these generations of women—whole decades of love, loss, heartbreak, and revival—she reveals the tapestry’s second gift: the ability for each of these women to dramatically reshape their own worlds. Like all power, both fantastic and societal, this inheritance is more treacherous than it seems.

What would it mean, to impart an impossible burden? To withhold these incredible gifts?

Sweeping, deeply felt and intergenerational, A Thousand Times Before is a debut as poetic as it is propulsive, as healing as it is heartbreaking, as it examines what it means to carry our past with us and to pass it on. Rooted in a tender love story, and spun with a tremendous amount of care, this book is a rare, remarkable feat from an incredible new literary talent.

"In expertly crafted prose, Thanki reinvents generational memory, conjuring inheritance as a tapestry of love, trauma, and choices that echo through blood. The memories within wormed their way under my skin and made me reflect about the collective of past lives that reside within all of us. A profoundly tender and complex debut that I didn't want to put down." — Sequoia Nagamatsu, bestselling author of How High We Go in the Dark

“[An] achingly beautiful novel that invokes the fantastic power of matrilineal inheritance through generations of women who negotiate what it means to be “good” — as a daughter, sister, mother, friend, and lover. Asha Thanki writes like a dream, and this debut is both visionary in scope and lovingly intimate. I couldn’t put it down, and I can’t wait to read everything else Thanki writes.” — Jean Chen Ho, author of Fiona and Jane

“Spanning three generations, Asha Thanki's captivating debut explores the legacies mothers pass on to their daughters—and the complicated responsibilities that accompany them. A Thousand Times Before is a rich family saga about art and memory's power to inform the present, make peace with the past, and maybe even alter the future.” — Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts

"In a debut as powerful as it is tender, Asha Thanki sculpts an unforgettable story of art, love, family, and home. A Thousand Times Before offers a luminous vision of history, one you'll want to return to again and again. Follow this book's brave generations of heroines wrestling with fate and politics, and you'll appreciate not only the power of Thanki's imagination, but also the possibilities of your own." — V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Brotherless Night

"A Thousand Times Before marks the arrival of a major new author. Thanki weaves a passionate portrayal of the stories mothers pass down through generations as well as the power of story to change our futures. This beautifully written generational epic features compelling characters, a propulsive plot, and readers will be reluctant to leave these women behind." —Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of The American Daughters and The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You

 “[A] tremendous debut with deeply interesting characters. It's a rare book that can delve so deeply and honestly into the complicated layers of love, power, motherhood, and obligation and still leave readers with a sense of optimism and hope. Beautiful!” —Megan Giddings, author of The Women Could Fly