The Morning Star is a story of love and sacrifice and the unseen hand of destiny.
A desperate woman calls a neighbour before dying in childbirth. Is it a coincidence that she chooses someone who will give her all to save the baby from its unscrupulous father?
When Sudha answers a telephone call in the middle of the night, she cannot know how it will change her life. From the first, she feels a strong connection with the motherless baby. She brings her home and names her after the Arundhati star.
Sudha loves Arundhati - Anu as she calls her - as much as she does her son. She is the daughter of her heart, a precious gift that fate has given her. As the threat to Anu's safety increases, she grows desperate and takes a drastic step to protect the baby.
Only, it might cost her everything she holds dear.
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They tell her she must go into the room but she squeezes her eyes shut and vehemently shakes her head, the movement making her braids swing in wide arcs. PROLOGUE
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(Independently Published, 27 August 2020, 325 pages, ebook, copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 19 November via @RandomTTours)
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I really enjoyed this book. The premise is deceptively simple; a woman dies in childbirth and a neighbour determines to take care of the baby against the wishes of her husband and the baby's father, who panicked when his wife died and ran off. The book is much more complex than it would originally seem and COVID19 pandemic even features in the backdrop. I wasn't sure I was going to like the book when COVID19 turns up but the author does a good job of using this as a plot device as the woman is stranded in Delhi due to travel restrictions which gives her enough time to carefully plan her next move. The most enjoyable aspect is the information about Indian culture, history, religion and mythology. I got to know a world very different from my own and I really enjoyed the time I spent there.
