"A dazzling literary debut...a sparkling novel." —Dayton Daily News

Three women. Three secrets. One summer that changes everything.

Anita Kumar was fifteen when shame stole her voice. Pregnant and afraid to disappoint her successful parents, she allowed others to decide her future—and her daughter’s. Years later, she buries her grief beneath competence, scanning every child’s face for the one she lost.

Born into wealth but raised in fear, Ashley Spady escapes a violent home only to find herself trapped in a cycle she doesn’t know how to break—until an unexpected diagnosis forces her to confront the truth about herself.

Adopted and blessed with an extraordinary memory, Robin Zymanski dreams of becoming a writer. But as questions about her origins deepen and her vision begins to fade, she must decide who she is when the future she imagined slips from view.

When their lives converge in the summer of 2009, the three women form an unlikely bond that reshapes their understanding of identity, forgiveness, and belonging.

Before We Were Women is a moving multicultural, multigenerational novel of resilience and sisterhood—about confronting the past, reclaiming your voice, and discovering that family can be found in the most unexpected places.