Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel - Softcover

"I will never forget Sabitri, Bela, and Tara: grandmother, mother, and daughter after my own heart. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni cycles through generations of time, until we come to know our ancestresses--and the goddess. A lovely book."
--Maxine Hong Kingston, author of I Love a Broad Margin to My Life

"Tender, bittersweet, beautifully wrought tales about love and longing, exile and loneliness. I was reminded of the songs of separation sung by Bhojpuri women: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni discovers new nuances in the 'biraha' that creeps into the lives of migrants."--Amitav Ghosh, author of The Glass Palace

"Divakaruni proves herself adept with all the tools in the writer's toolbox...Divakaruni makes use of two major writerly tools that seldom go together -- tragic drama, and screwball comedy. What's more, she finds entirely fresh ways to mete out the tropes of the South Asian immigrant story...hilarity deepens and clarifies the story's dark tones...an heirloom tapestry."--The Miami Herald

"The always enchanting and enlightening Divakaruni spins another silken yet tensile saga about the lives of women in India and as immigrants in America...Divakaruni's gracefully insightful, dazzlingly descriptive, and covertly stinging tale illuminates the opposition women must confront, generation by generation, as they seek both independence and connection."--Booklist (Starred Review)

"An extraordinary journey told through a sparkling symphony of male and female voices." --Indo American News

"This book turned out to be the perfect palate cleanser...for the burgeoning bright glory of summer.The greatest strength of the book is Divakaruni's three unapologetically complicated, fierce female protagonists."--Hyphen Magazine

"Emotionally accessible...[Divakaruni] balances the ache of separation with the thrills of independence and self-discovery...her characteristic passion, nerve and insight into the troubled soul are here in full."--The Wall Street Journal

"Before We Visit the Goddess is full of different voices, going back and forth in time, with beautifully written chapters that could stand on their own as short stories but add layer upon layer of complication, wonder, humanity and empathy when joined together...Divakaruni builds her female characters as multidimensional -- highly complex, intelligent and nobody's doormat... Divakaruni guides us along their journeys with beautiful writing, surprising laughter and a truly memorable ending...I can't recommend this book enough. When it comes to fiction, Divakaruni is a new goddess on the Texas landscape."--The Austin American Statesman

"Divakaruni elegantly leads the reader through the twists and turns of life given the complications of culture, family expectations, and words left unsaid...the writing was crisp and clear. The characters were realistic and the dialogue believable. The story explores the dynamics of mothers and daughters caught in the cross-hairs of cultural and generation differences, as well as the complications of expectations, believed or real...Before We Visit the Goddess will leave the reader wondering about the relationship they have with their parents and what should be said before it is too late."--The Portland Book Review

"A novel about female strength and ambition and how one mother's decision can affect the lives of her family for generations to come."--Bustle

A beautiful, “deeply affecting” (Kirkus Reviews) novel from the bestselling, award-winning author of Sister of My Heart and The Mistress of Spices about three generations of mothers and daughters who must discover their greatest source of strength in one another.

Sweeping across the twentieth century, from the countryside of Bengal, India, to the streets of Houston, Texas, Before We Visit the Goddess takes readers on an extraordinary journey through the lives of three unforgettable women: Sabitri, Bela, and Tara. As the young daughter of a poor rural baker, Sabitri yearns to get an education, but schooling is impossible on the meager profits from her mother’s sweetshop. When a powerful local woman takes Sabitri under her wing, her generous offer soon proves dangerous after Sabitri makes a single, unforgiveable misstep. Years later, Sabitri’s own daughter, Bela, haunted by her mother’s choices, flees to America with her political refugee lover—but the world she finds is vastly different from her dreams. As the marriage crumbles and Bela decides to forge her own path, she unwittingly teaches her little girl, Tara, indelible lessons about freedom and loyalty that will take a lifetime to unravel.

Told through a sparkling symphony of voices—those of the women themselves and the men who loved them—Before We Visit the Goddess captures the gorgeous complexity of these multi-generational and transcontinental relationships, showing the deep threads of love and hope and bravery that define a family and a life. This is a “gracefully insightful, dazzlingly descriptive, and covertly stinging tale [that] illuminates the opposition women must confront, generation by generation, as they seek both independence and connection” (Booklist, starred review).