Review #692: A House for Happy Mothers by Amulya Malladi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“If I were asked to define Motherhood. I would have defined it as Love in its purest form. Unconditional Love.”

----Revathi Sankaran

Amulya Malladi, a bestselling Indian author, has penned a thoroughly refreshing and alluring contemporary fiction called, A House for Happy Mothers that surrounds around two women, one wants a baby desperately thus choosing the surrogate route to India away from her posh Silicon valley life with her darling husband and aristocrat friends, and the other is desperate to provide a good schooling and education to her highly intelligent son and also to keep the wolves away from the doorstep of her poor household by selling her womb. A journey that connects two mothers in different yet in emotionally similar ways that is vivid, raw and extremely heart-touching to read about.


Synopsis:

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.


Priya, the Indian-American woman, has the perfect life that a woman can ever ask for, a perfect career, a perfect and doting husband, and a great home, and the only thing missing is a child of theirs own. Unfortunately Priya can't get pregnant, after several miscarriages and terrible nightmares, together, Priya and her husband decides to opt for surrogacy service, a borrowed womb to carry their future child. Hence they have to travel all the way to India, to her husband's hometown at Hyderabad to borrow the womb of another woman who is going to give Priya hope of becoming a mother.

Asha, a mother of two and wife of a house-painter, can barely manage to keep her household financially stable, considering her husband's low-paid daily laboring job. And not to mention, she desperately needs money to admit her highly intelligent and gifted son to a proper school where he can excel and get all the guidance. Hence upon the suggestion of her sister, she decides to sell her womb for money by carrying a child of someone else. Two women, one becoming a mother to give her son a proper education and the other is desperate to become a mother to her own child. And when their paths collide through motherhood, it is beyond amazing and emotional to witness such moments between them.

This is the first time that I read any book by this author, and even though I had no idea about her previous books or her writing style, this book simply won my heart. The world of surrogacy isn't that explored or talked about or penned about by the authors and the subject of surrogacy has always been a mystery to me, so the blurb of the book lured me to grab a copy of this book and start reading instantly. And glad I read this book, the author vividly showed me the truth and emotional struggle behind the expensive world of surrogacy.

Penned with evocative feelings that is bound to move the readers deeply all through the tale, this book is an extremely poignant one. The writing style of the author is brilliant and eloquent, laced with deep emotions. The narrative is equally engaging and articulate and sways gently with its free flowing movement. The pacing is smooth as the story is crafted with enough unforeseeable moments that will keep the readers glued to the book. Also the issues addressed by the author, especially the journey of a woman, who is bearing a child which is not her flesh and blood, is very well portrayed by the author with raw emotions and sentiments that will make the readers sympathize with her ordeal.

The author has done her research really well, as she has intricately depicted the reality behind the white washed walls covered with promising and glossy family pictures of any surrogate centers of the country. But the author's focus primarily remained on the lives of the two women, where one is pregnant and the other is eagerly and happily looking after the other one's family. And surrogacy can bring two families with no blood ties closer than one can ever imagine and that is wonderfully captured by the author into this book.

The characters are really well developed by the author, as they depict realism, honesty and emotions that are highly relatable to the eyes of the readers. Priya is a complex woman, but why wouldn't she be, considering the challenges she has faced in life and also she has many layers to her personality. Asha is a simple housewife, a mother and a wife with only one dream to give proper education to her son and her determination is the driving point of this story, as she goes through an emotional upheaval, yet holds tight to her promise of delivering and giving away the child she is carrying in her womb. The secondary characters are also very interestingly penned, especially the husbands of both the women.

In a nutshell, this is a must read book about motherhood and compassion, for all contemporary fiction readers.

Verdict: Poignant and captivating to its very core.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Westland Publications for the review copy of this book.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author Info:
Amulya is the bestselling author of seven novels, including her latest The Copenhagen Affair, which will be published in September 2017. 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, Amulya works as a marketing executive for a global medical device company. After living in Denmark for 14 years, Amulya moved to California in 2016 and lives in Orange County with her husband and two sons.
Visit her here


Book Purchase Links:

• Amazon US
• Amazon India