Author event! Nanda Reddy with Bridey Thelen-Heidel

Zibby's Bookshop is excited to welcome Zibby Publishing author Nanda Reddy to celebrate the release of her debut novel, A GIRL WITHIN A GIRL WITHIN A GIRL! Nanda will be joined in conversation by Bridey Thelen-Heidel, author of BRIGHT EYES.

About the book:

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 red-and-blue striped envelope on the counter and asks a devastating question: Who is Sunny?

Maya is sent reeling back to her childhood in Guyana—a time when Sunny was her only name. Unbeknownst to her husband, Maya is not who she claims to be. The letter, from her long-lost sister Roshi, now threatens to expose her true identity and shatter the seemingly perfect existence Maya worked so hard to build.

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.

About the authors:

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

Bridey Thelen-Heidel’s chaotic upbringing meant changing schools between Alaska and California more than twenty times. A Lewis and Clark College graduate, she lives in South Lake Tahoe with her husband and daughter and teaches English Literature at her alma mater. A TEDx speaker and frequent podcast guest, Bridey performed in Listen to Your Mother NYC and is published in MUTHA Magazine and the 2023 San Francisco Writers' Foundation Anthology. Bridey has been voted Best of Tahoe Teacher several times, and her work with LGBTQ+ students is celebrated in Read This, Save Lives and the California Teachers' Association’s California Educator.

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