Secret Daughter
It has been over 5 years since I read a novel. I have made a conscious effort to stay away from them because I get too involved with the narrative, and sucked in to the point that I am unable to focus on anything else until I am done with the story.
But, yesterday, when I went shopping at the Costco store close to our home, I was instantaneously attracted to the book, “Secret Daughter” by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, and once I read the brief synopsis of the 350 page book, I could not resist buying it!
The story is about an Indian mother who had to give up her child, Usha, when she was a day old because she gave birth to a girl, and not a boy! Shilpi also speaks about the lives of the couple who adopted Usha and brought her up in America. It’s a tale spread across twenty years, and the parallel events in the lives of both these families.
Though, it is a series of fictitious events, there was so much to learn. I was moved to tears and could feel the pain of the characters involved. Different perspectives to the same event, conflicting reactions, and transformation of relationships as priorities and attitudes change were all a part of the book.
I cannot do justice in a ten-line blog update to the powerful message behind the story, but here is a brief snippet that is a relevant piece for all married couples, “The key to a successful marriage was for each spouse to give as much as they thought they possibly could. And, then to give a little more. Somewhere in that extra giving, in the space created by generosity without score keeping, was the difference between marriages that thrived and those that didn’t.”