COMING JULY 30, 2024.
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To learn more about the artist who created the cover for Tilt, please visit: Shira Hofmekler (Gregory)’s Studio.
TILT: A Novel on Intergenerational Trauma
Tilt follows Kavya, an Indian-American professor struggling to navigate academia’s dysfunction and to deal with debilitating panic attacks after a visit from her estranged father. In order to heal, she is forced to confront for the first time the legacies of family violence. But just as she starts to find her way back to herself, revelations of family secrets threaten to turn her life upside down.
This genre-bending book also features a writing project that can be adapted by readers for use in classrooms, communities, and even among groups of friends and loved ones grappling with intergenerational trauma. Tilt compels us to look anew at oppressive political orders like colonialism, casteism, colorism, racism, and more, and to ask how our histories can liberate rather than destroy us.
Praise
“TILT is a necessary novel for anyone interested in transgenerational trauma. Through Nayak’s engaging main character, Kavya, TILT explores harmful legacies of colonialism, including 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.” —5 star review, K.C. Finn, Readers’ Favorite
“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
“Tilt by Meghana V. Nayak got me thinking about a topic I didn’t know existed. Intergenerational trauma and how it affected those who raised us, and how it in turn affected us. The vivid descriptions of events and emotions of the characters and the seamless flow of the plotline added to the overall beauty of the book. I look forward to reading something else by this author.”—5 star review, Frank Mutuma, Readers’ Favorite
“Tilt is more than a novel. Meghana V. Nayak has written a probing examination of the anatomy of familial anguish in synergy with real-world events of global magnitude. In its distinctive originality, extraordinary breadth, and masterful composition, Tilt is an important book that will likely become even more so in years to come.”—5 star review, Constance Stadler, Readers’ Favorite
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.
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.
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.