Secret Daughter: A Novel [Paperback]

I really enjoyed this well balanced novel - set in both India and America, it is narrated by several of the characters but never becomes confusing or dull. Many complex issues are covered, including adoption from third world countries into affluent Western families and the extreme poverty that can force a family to dispose of female offspring. I found the issues sensitively handled throughout and admit to crying towards the end. (The sure sign of a good book!).

There are several main characters who all form part of the narrative; Kavita and Jasu from a poverty stricken area of India, and American Somer and her Indian husband Krishnan from San Fransisco and California.
Their daughter Usha/Asha binds the future of the two families when she is adopted and moved to US.
The journey that Kavita and Jasu make to Bombay, to search for their hope of a better life, was an eye opener, and the wealthy family that Krishnan comes from was also interesting, with the matriach, Dadima holding everything together.
There were some interesting contrasts - the slum life of Mumbai vs the riches of America, and the strength of the arranged marriages in India vs the stresses of modern life on the love matches of the West. It certainly provided food for thought.

Although the overall feel of the book was that the women were frequently the stronger characters, the men also played a vital role but their characters had less chance to speak.

I was fascinated to read that the author spent a summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage; being of Indian descent and living in America, I felt that it was a book written from the heart.

Certainly an author I will read again.
Recommended.

This is a truly outstanding book that will resonate in the memories and hearts of all readers.

Kavita, a young mother in India mourns the loss of her first daughter in 1984. The baby was killed by her father's family who wanted only sons. In 1985 when her second daughter is born, Kavita hides her pregnancy and quite resourcefully saves her child's life.

Asha, which means Hope was originally named Usha by her natural mother, Kavita. In 1986, Usha/Asha was adopted from an orphanage in India when she was a year old. A couple from the United States adopts her and is just appalled at female infanticide in India. Asha was found wearing a thin bracelet that Kavita left on her wrist, a silent plea that her daughter be given a chance to live.

The Thakkars, both of whom are doctors adopt Asha. Somer is a pediatrician and Krishnan is a neurosurgeon who have not been able to have a child. One's heart really goes out to Somer when she learns that she is not able to conceive. One really feels her pain when she attends a friend's baby shower and an insenstive guest makes rude remarks about Somer being the only one there who does not have a child. You just want to kick Bouncing Becky in the shins for making Somer feel bad about her losses. One really feels for Somer when she ducks out of the shower, understandably no longer able to fake pleasure at another's good fortune.

Krishnan immigrated from India to the United States and, like Kavita, hoped for a better life there. He saw medical school as his ticket to a better and safer life.

Somer, on the other hand has no personal ties to India. Once they adopt Asha, they rebuild their ties to India and the family they have who still live there. The Thakkars' biggest fear is that Asha might try to find her natural mother and other relatives in India and want to know the circumstances behind her adoption.

The story covers the years 1984 to 2009. Somer, Kavita and Asha each lend their voices to the story and each brings her perspective about motherhood. These three women also have vastly different perspectives about India and Indian culture. One very poignant lesson each come away with is that "Mother India does not love all her children equally" and this lesson is reinforced many times in their own lives.

This is a brilliant and beautiful story that is like a sunrise. It is full of hope, as Asha is named and promise. It is full of rich colors and the tapestries of people's lives. Each strand is brilliantly interwoven to create a masterpiece.

George Harrison's stellar 1969 classic "Here Comes the Sun" is the soundtrack to this book.

I highly recommend this book. It is a shining gem.

This novel tackles some of the issues surrounding interracial relationships, motherhood, and adoption . It is fairly-well known that there have been many instances of infanticide of baby girls in certain areas of the world. This story is about Asha, a girl whose mother decided to give her away rather than allow her husband to 'make her disappear' from their lives. This decision causes a ripple effect that travels across the world and back again, as we follow Asha's journey to discovery.

The reader sees how this perfect little girl promised such hope for a couple who were unable to have children of their own, and simultaneously opened up a whole new set of worries and questions. Can a woman ever truly understand a child that she did not bear? Is it healthy to shut away the past from your child, and cut her off from all her own history?

We feel the turmoil felt by Asha, trying to understand who she is and where she belongs. We watch her go to India and explore her unanswered questions, tracking down sparse evidence that could lead her to her birth parents. We feel the uncertainty and pain experienced by both her birth, and adoptive, mothers. Both wanted her so badly, and both pushed her away for reasons felt to be the best for her.

Secret Daughter is a beautifully poignant story, that is told through multi-character narration. It explores the realities of the caste system in India, and the serious issues that poverty brings with it. Mostly it explores love, in all its wonderful dimensions, and the crazy things love does to people.

I highly recommend this novel.