The House of Hidden Mothers
A Novel
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ISBN10: 1250132177
ISBN13: 9781250132178
Trade Paperback
432 Pages
$22.00
CA$30.00
Life hasn’t always been easy for Shyama, a woman in her mid-forties whose husband abandoned her when their daughter was still young. But she has finally found happiness with Toby, a man ten years her junior. She and Toby want to have a child together, but Shyama’s doctor tells her that her womb has become "inhospitable."("An inhospitable womb! There, she had been looking for a title for her autobiography.") While Shyama and Toby begin their search for the perfect surrogate, four thousand miles away a young woman in rural India named Mala becomes convinced that carrying a child for an international couple will be her ticket out of poverty—and as her life intersects with Shyama’s, the two women soon discover that an apparently simple arrangement may be far more complicated than it once seemed.
Reviews
Praise for The House of Hidden Mothers
"Beneath the pacey narrative and emotional journeys thrum observations about youth and age, East and West, wealth and poverty, love and sex, pain, [and] joy . . . A delicately written, profound study of the female condition in the rich world and the poor. The gifted Syal does it again."—Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent (UK)
"For sheer scope and ambition [Syal] makes Dickens and Tolstoy seem single-minded."—Susan Elkin, The Independent (UK)
"Syal so skillfully uses this bicultural cast of characters to explore the dramatic complexities of transnational surrogacy. The many themes of this novel, including generational conflicts, cultural myopia, economic privilege, and gender politics, give readers plenty to think about . . . A well-paced, enjoyable read."—Kirkus Reviews
"With an absorbing modern family saga story line and sympathetic, compelling characters, Syal’s novel trains a personal lens on ethical issues surrounding surrogacy and women’s rights."—Sonia Reppe, Library Journal
Reviews from Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
‘RELIGION IS FOR those who believe in hell, spirituality is for those who have already been there.’ Shyama had to squint slightly to read the laminated sticker on the side of...
About the author
Meera Syal
