A House for Happy Mothers by Amulya Malladi
Published by Lake Union Publishing on June 1st 2016
Genres: Fiction, Literary, Women, Women Authors
Pages: 301
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
A stunning new novel–full of wit and warmth–from the bestselling author of The Mango Season. In trendy Silicon Valley, Priya has everything she needs–a loving husband, a career, and a home–but the one thing she wants most is the child she’s unable to have. In a Southern Indian village, Asha doesn’t have much–raising two children in a tiny hut, she and her husband can barely keep a tin roof over their heads–but she wants a better education for her gifted son. Pressured by her family, Asha reluctantly checks into the Happy Mothers House: a baby farm where she can rent her only asset–her womb–to a childless couple overseas. To the dismay of friends and family, Priya places her faith in a woman she’s never met to make her dreams of motherhood come true. Together, the two women discover the best and the worst that India’s rising surrogacy industry has to offer, bridging continents and cultures to bring a new life into the world–and renewed hope to each other.
As I continue through the month of August, I am wrapping up the last few books included in the BookSparks 2016 Summer Reading Challenge!
Today’s book is A House for Happy Mothers by Amula Malladi, which is a story that deals with two couples on opposite sides of a situation – one couple is unable to have children and the other couple can.
Priya and Madhu are an Indian couple who live in the Bay area of California. Priya has suffered a few miscarriages and she learns that she will not be able to carry her baby to term. Most of her relationship with her husband and her infertility struggles are written as flashbacks, which I actually felt removed readers from the struggle of not being able to have children and ultimately deciding on surrogacy.
Priya and Madhu go through a surrogate facility named Happy Mother’s House in India, where Asha becomes her surrogate. For Asha and Pratap, the opportunity to become their surrogate and provide them with this baby offers them much needed money to give their brilliant son a chance to attend a good school or for the family to buy a real home.
This book was easy to read but I’ll admit that while reading it, I was thinking about what is really going on in the surrogacy world since it’s clear I had no idea. Overall it was a pretty good book with a storyline that will get anyone talking. I think it would make a good book club read for that very reason.
Amulya Malladi is the author of six novels, including The Sound of Language and The Mango Season. Her books have been translated into several languages, including Dutch, German, Spanish, Danish, Romanian, Serbian, and Tamil.
She has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in journalism. When she’s not writing, she works as a marketing executive for a global medical device company. She lives in Copenhagen with her husband and two children.
Connect with Amulya at www.amulyamalladi.com.
I received a complimentary paperback copy of this book from the publishers and BookSparks as part of the 2016 Summer Reading Challenge in exchange for this post, which is my honest review and unbiased opinion.
Keep checking out BookSparks’ Summer Reading Challenge 2016! There are so many more books you’ll want to put into your beach bag! This is going to be the “best summer ever.” #SRC2016 #BestSummerEver #BestSRCEver!
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