Parent Time: Secret Daughter

This month’s book, Secret Daughter, by Shilpi S. Gowda, was Haley’s pick.

Meet the host! Haley, aka Cheaty, blogs at Today’s Parent, where she dishes celebs as well as talking parenting, and writes her own blog, Cheaty Monkey, where she obsesses adorably about chai and false teeth. Haley hosted in her charming uptown house, where we were greeted with hugs by her daughter and sat around a cozy, fire-warmed living room to discuss this month’s title:

Secret Daughter
by Shilpi S. Gowda
HarperCollins
ISBN: 978 0 061 97430 4

This very readable novel is made up of the intertwined stories of Kavita, who gives up a baby girl rather than see her killed by her boy-hungry husband, of Somer, who turns to adoption after wrestling with infertility, and eventually, of Asha, the baby girl who grows up and wants to understand her roots.

This book is perhaps more commercially successful than some of the others we have read, and it reads for a more commercial audience, to be sure. (One comment from the group called it a good beach read, and I found it faster than my usual slow pace, certainly.) It does follow the stories of these women along pathways that held few surprises, although I was pleased that the ending shied away from what I was imagining lay ahead as I was reading and went for something slightly less tidy. (Yes, I am trying hard to avoid spoiling it!)

It should be a book rich for discussion, as it touches on a lot of issues that many mothers can relate to or empathize with: infertility, miscarriage, adoption, wanting to protect your child, discord with in-laws, and so on. Most of these themes, one or more women in our group have had experience with in some way. Still, we found it lacking a bit of the difficulty and “meatiness” needed for a good book club discussion, so I recommend it for a good, enjoyable lighter read rather than something to really sink your teeth into.