Secret Daughter

This is one novel I will not forget in a hurry.  The very rawness of emotions still hangs around me.  A very structured book from the introductions to the very epilogue which beautifully ties all loose ends.  The author has struck a chord with all women, particularly the mothers, be it the surrogate or the helpless who unwillingly loses her girl to the chauvinistic male society.

The delivery is a painful event all by itself.  But when the author goes on the length to project it, it becomes etched in the memory forever.  We all understand a mother's concern to save a child, but for the unborn this mother goes to every length to at least give her a life.  The strong woman that she is, painstakingly ignores the aftermath of child delivery to at least let this child see the light of a day, and names her Usha.

The author has thoroughly researched the slums of Mumbai and drawn a detail picture of its rashness and poverty.  Tears prick my eyes not just at one or two high points but again and again when I feel the searing pain these women experience throughout their lives.

We do have this notion of the women of western world as the easy going types.  Well not so.  The emotions of Somer are too raw.  Her willingness to prove as a good wife, her patience to be accepted as a mother and above all trying to fit in a world shared by dad and daughter.  I feel an empathy with her that I simply cannot ignore her as another character of the story.  She stands in par with Kavitha, the Indian Protagonist of the story.

I could not simply put down the book and had a very intimate connection as a mother and as a human.  It is a willing choice of every mother/parent who puts their kid for adoption, but the author has beautifully accounted every aftermath of it.  If as a reader I am under such emotional roller coaster, I wonder what the author would have gone through to put up such an awesome novel.  A simple one liner (or spoiler, however you wanna look at it) would be, "the world of two women connected through one child".

Well it does not end there.  She does justify the men too.  What emotions and guilt a father would have when he loses a girl child is strongly reflected.  That indeed was a turning point, for good.  Everything becomes peaceful when the story has a beautiful ending.  Try this book. You will not be disappointed.  Not to give an air for myself, but I had read this book in 2011 and still remember the story thoroughly.  Goes to show, how well this story still lingers in my mind.