Secret Daughter
by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Finished: March 28, 2015
My Goodreads rating: 5 stars *****
This is another book that’s been on my Goodreads “to-read” shelf for quite a while, and I finally felt like I was in the right kind of mood to get lost in this type of story.
It was very well-written and was a great way to learn a few things about Indian culture, both upper-class and extremely lower-class. The story is about a young girl, Asha, whose birth mother was part of the extremely poor class of Indian women, and she lived in a village where it wasn’t practical or financially possible for she and her husband to raise and provide for a daughter. Because of this, Asha’s mother was forced to give Asha up for adoption in order to save her daughter’s life.
Meanwhile, a young couple in San Francisco, California is unable to have children, and adopts Asha from her orphanage in India. The story goes back and forth between perspectives of Asha’s birth mother and adoptive mother, as well as chapters from Asha herself as she grows older.
As Asha matures, she finds herself longing to get to know the country she was born in, and is ultimately drawn back to India on a path of self-discovery.
I really enjoyed the unique storyline of this book, and especially because I was able to learn about the Indian culture, which I must admit I was very uninformed about prior to reading it. I would recommend this book to lovers of A Thousand Splendid Suns, but keep in mind that it is much more modern and isn’t nearly as emotionally upsetting as that book. It is a warmer story and focuses more on a young girl’s desire to learn about her past and coming to terms with her life and relationships she has come to know as familiar.
An Infinite Library 