The House of Hidden Mothers - by Meera Syal (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"Passionate and opinionated . . . This book is bound to delight many readers."--The Sunday Times (London)

"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 (London)

"Sprawling, humorous, and sensitive."--Metro (London)

"For sheer scope and ambition [Syal] makes Dickens and Tolstoy seem single-minded."--Susan Elkin, The Independent (London)

"[A] rambunctious, confrontational and ultimately heartbreaking book."--Alfred Hickling, The Guardian (London)

"Ambitious."--Publishers Weekly

"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

About the Author

MEERA SYAL, a British-born Indian, is a writer and actress. Her first novel, Anita and Me, won a Betty Trask award and was short-listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize. She lives in London.