Sujatha Hampton
Sujatha Hampton has a doctorate in Special Education from The University of Texas at Austin and was a school teacher, a college professor, and most recently an educational administrator for the Albemarle County, VA public school system. She left her 15 year career in education to write As It Was Written, which is her first novel. Before all that , she was a construction worker on the pipe laying crew on Afton Mountain, the Cool Ranch Dorito girl in the Charlottesville Superfresh, the clerk at the Ivy Landfill, and an aerobics instructor back when it was really cool to be an aerobics instructor. She lives in Great Falls, VA. Visit her website here.
AS IT WAS WRITTEN: A Novel (2010)
The epic journey of an Indian-American family which unfolds when men and women, Hindus and Catholics, histories and curses, collide.
In McLean, Virginia, Dr. Raman Nair lives a life of abounding satisfaction with his tiny wife, Jaya, and his harem of enormous and beautiful daughters. He has been away from his native Kerala, India for so long that he has happily forgotten the ancient Brahmin curse that follows his family like a black cloud, killing one girl for love in every generation. But his wife hasn’t forgotten, nor has his baby sister, Gita. Suddenly his daughters are up to no good and Dr. Raman Nair doesn’t know which way to turn.
As It Was Written marks the arrival of a wonderful new voice in fiction, and a storyteller of the highest order.
"Hampton's debut follows the fortunes of an Indian family living in Virginia. Gita Nair, a troubled young professor, is practically shrinking away to nothing as she pines for Chris Jones, a handsome married man she met and fell in love with in an airport when she was only 18. Their affair spans many years, as Chris' wife Jeri tries to get over the stillborn birth of the child she hoped would save their marriage. Gita is hard at work on a recounting of the tragic, cursed life of her great-great-great grandmother, and fears that the family curse might be visited on one of her five voluptuous, beautiful nieces. Her fears seem on the brink of being realized when two of the girls fall into love affairs, one joyous, the other unhappy: Veena experiences love at first sight with a young doctor, while Dhanya is seduced by a rakish college professor. This rich, lush family drama is bound to appeal to readers who like their fiction imaginative and whimsical." —ALA Booklist
"A thoroughly wonderful, absolutely engaging debut novel. From the first page to the last, I was captivated by the beautifully drawn characters, intricate plotting, and compelling storyline. Quite simply, once you enter the crazy, heartfelt, loving, magical world of Dr. Raman Nair and his five daughters, you will never want to leave."—Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of Firefly Lane
"Lyrical, erotic and quite funny, As It Was Written isn't about a clash of cultures: it's about the meeting of powerful mythologies, which regard one another with wonder and suspicion and then, inevitably, begin to swirl together."—Jincy Willett, author of The Writing Class
"A beautifully written novel, in turns comic and poignant, from a bold new writer with a distinctive voice and a joyously vast imagination."—Roopa Farooki, author of Bitter Sweets
"The type of epic, heart - tugging book about family that you want to jump into so you can be a part of the story, too. Sujatha Hampton writes with elegance and honesty."—Cathy Lamb, author of Henry's Sisters
"As It Was Written beautifully depicts a family of women who are weighted down by the past yet yearn for a more liberated future. With both sumptuous prose and a keen eye, Sujatha Hampton has created a highly impressive debut."—Alyson Richman, author of The Last Wife and The Velvet Hours
Rights: Thomas Dunne Books, World English; Maya Yayinlari, Turkey