KDL Recommends

Secret Daughter: A Novel

ISBN: 0061928356

Title: Secret Daughter: A Novel

Author: Shilpi Somaya Gowda

KDL Description:

This is the compelling story of two women from very different backgrounds (one lives in a poor village in India and one is a physician in California) linked invisibly by a daughter who is adopted from Mumbai. With great character development and a candid look at various social issues, this book is ultimately about the various forms of love and family. It’s the best book that I’ve read in a long time!!
-Kristin at KDL’s Englehardt branch

Amazon Description:

On the eve of the monsoons, in a remote Indian village, Kavita gives birth to a baby girl. But in a culture that favors sons, the only way for Kavita to save her newborn daughter’s life is to give her away. It is a decision that will haunt her and her husband for the rest of their lives, even after the arrival of their cherished son.

Halfway around the globe, Somer, an American doctor, decides to adopt a child after making the wrenching discovery that she will never have one of her own. When she and her husband, Krishnan, see a photo of the baby with the gold-flecked eyes from a Mumbai orphanage, they are overwhelmed with emotion. Somer knows life will change with the adoption but is convinced that the love they already feel will overcome all obstacles.

Interweaving the stories of Kavita, Somer, and the child that binds both of their destinies, Secret Daughter poignantly explores the emotional terrain of motherhood, loss, identity, and love, as witnessed through the lives of two families—one Indian, one American—and the child that indelibly connects them.