To learn more about the artist who created the cover for Tilt, please visit: Shira Hofmekler (Gregory)’s Studio.
Synopsis, Praise, and Resources
TILT: A Novel on Intergenerational Trauma
Published by Rowman & Littlefield/Bloomsbury
Kavya is an Indian-American professor and single mother struggling with debilitating panic attacks. Bombarded by flashbacks of cruelty and violence that disrupt her everyday life, she is left with no choice but to confront the intergenerational trauma tormenting her. At first, Kavya finds some relief in piecing together the legacies of her family’s experiences with colonialism, colorism, and casteism. But just as she starts to recover, explosive confessions threaten to bring her world crashing down.
Brutal yet tender, Tilt is an unflinching feminist novel about the devastating histories that haunt us and the unexpected beauty of facing our pasts.
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Includes a community/classroom workbook and resources for readers to explore the relationship between intergenerational trauma and global politics. Covers topics like colonialism, displacement, partitions, caste, racism, settler colonialism, and more.
Praise
Recommended book by Dr. Jennifer Mullan, author of Decolonizing Therapy (Sept 17, 2024 newsletter, “Let’s Decolonize Our Classrooms!”)
“TILT is a necessary novel for anyone interested in transgenerational trauma. Through Nayak’s engaging main character, Kavya, TILT explores harmful legacies of colonialism, racism, colorism, caste, and abandonment, to reckon with root causes of domestic violence and family dysfunction. Divided into four chapters organized by the seasons, TILT moves between flashbacks and present day actions that show how therapy, history, and chosen family can heal. In the end, TILT avoids the pitfall of ultimate redemption in favor of an uncertain future guided by ancestral hope and the power of breaking silences, no matter how messy the results may be. And there are mermaids!”—Jen Soriano, award-winning author of Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing
“Tilt is a searing and revelatory investigation into how seemingly unrelated personal tragedies link to colonialism, mental health, and generational trauma across oceans and borders.” —Anjali Enjeti, award-winning author of The Parted Earth and Southbound
“A slow-burning bittersweet story of intergenerational trauma across the minefield of diaspora. Nayak weaves together the antagonistic psychic life of the main character, Kavya, with the politics and pleasures of academia, with the vexing terrain of mothering, and with the possibility of, might we say, self-love.” —Moon Charania, Spelman College, author of Archive of Tongues: An Intimate History of Brownness
“Determined to find out more about her family history and its effect on her life, Kavya’s journey is inspirational and transformative.” —Kristi Elizabeth, Chicago Review of Books
“Nayak digs into the raw truths of our world to craft a profound and thought-provoking novel that left a lasting impact on me as a reader. The narrative is confident and crystal clear, skillfully exploring the complexities of intergenerational trauma with a no-holds-barred viewpoint that showcases emotional and psychological impact above all else. Nayak’s poignant storytelling and nuanced character development are evident in every detail and atmospheric touch in the mood and settings, evoking empathy and introspection as we follow Kavya’s struggles and triumphs. Overall, Tilt offers a compelling narrative that resonates long after the final page, and I’d recommend it to fans of powerful dramatic novels everywhere.” — K.C. Finn, award-winning Young Adult author
“Nayak’s protagonist, Professor Kavya Joshi, aims to counter sexism, colorism, casteism, and racism through her research and teaching. Her problem is that she also participates in these oppressions. Nayak wagers that fiction is the best way to convey this ubiquitous pedagogical and existential paradox. The novel suggests that teachers teach to challenge their own limits. It shows rather than tells and thereby invites us to learn along with it. Nayak displays bold insight, weaves complex themes, creates compassion for all characters, and demonstrates a reverence for how history shapes us all. This book is a profound achievement.” —Naeem Inayatullah, Ithaca College
Sources on Intergenerational Trauma
Brave Heart, Maria Yellow Horse. 1998. “The Return to The Sacred Path: Healing the Historical Trauma Response Among the Lakota.” Smith College Studies in Social Work 68 (3): 287–305.
Burke Harris, Nadine. 2018. The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Edkins, Jenny. 2003. Trauma and the Memory of Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Felsen, I. 1998.“Transgenerational Transmission of Effects of the Holocaust.” In International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma, edited by Y. Danieli, 43–68. New York: Plenum.
Foo, Stephanie. 2022. What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma. New York: Ballantine Books.
Geronimus, Arline T. 2023. Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society. New York: Little, Brown Spark.
Helbich, Maria and Samah Jabr. 2022. “A Call for Social Justice and for a Human Rights Approach with Regard to Mental Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” Health and Human Rights Journal 24 (2): 305–318.
Jabr, Samah. 2025. Radiance in Pain and Resilience: The Global Reverberation of Palestinian Historical Trauma. Kent Town, South Australia: Wakefield Press.
Kholi, Sahaj Kaur. 2024. But What Will People Say? Navigating Mental Health, Identity, Love, and Family Between Cultures. New York: Penguin Life.
Khuc, Mimi. 2024. dear elia: Letters from the Asian American Abyss. Durham: Duke University Press.
Linklater, Renee. 2014. Decolonizing Trauma Work: Indigenous Stories and Strategies. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
Maxwell, Krista. 2014. “Historicizing Historical Trauma Theory: Troubling the Trans-Generational Transmission Paradigm.” Transcultural Psychiatry 51 (3): 407–35.
Menakem, Resmaa. 2017. My Grandmother’s Hands. Las Vegas, NV: Central Recovery Press.
Million, Dian. 2020. “Trauma’s Empty Promise: Indigenous Death, Economics, and Resurgence.” In The Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures, edited by Daniel Nehring, Ole Jacob Madsen, Edgar Cabanas, China Mills, and Dylan Kerrigan, 409–420. London: Routledge.
Mullan, Jennifer. 2023. Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Nguyen, Linh Thuy. 2024. Displacing Kinship: The Intimacies of Intergenerational Trauma in Vietnamese Cultural Production. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Poon, OiYan A. 2024. Asian American is Not a Color: Conversations on Race, Affirmative Action, and Family. Boston: Beacon Press.
Soriano, Jen. 2023. Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing. New York: Amistad.
Van Der Kolk, Bessel. 2014. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. New York: Penguin Books.