Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Shilpi Somaya Gowda

I have about 15 days of freedom left before the summer semester starts. This past Thursday I whipped through that psychology exam and was the happiest person alive when the clock struck noon. I was free. 

I threw my arms up (for stretching AND because I was happy), did a little happy dance (secretly), handed one of the T.A.'s my exam and said TOODLES as a strolled down between rows of desks in the gym.

I was finally able to finish "Push" by Sapphire and was going to finish Alice Sebold's "Lovely Bones" but I remember that I picked up a book a few weeks ago, vowing to read it after exams.

I am very aware that between women of western society and women of undeveloped countries, the rights of women and the focus thereof differs. Not all women see reproductive rights in the same way. 

This is why "The Secret Daughter" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda caught my attention. As a read the first page, I shut the book and purchased it.

So far, I'm not disappointed. The reproductive issues of two women (one in America and one in India) are paralleled but alternated back and forth with one baby girl that actually links the two women together. 

My curiosity about the author forced me to put the book down for a moment as I googled her. Learning that she was born and raised in Toronto forced me to blog about it. 

A Canadian ... better yet, Torontonian author? Niiiiiice. (Insert big smiley face here).

Gowda was born and raised in Toronto and attended University of North Carolina and Stanford. "The Secret Daughter" was her first novel and it was inspired by the orphanage Gowda volunteered in one Summer. 

So far, the book is #1 in Canada and #23 in NY Best Sellers List among many other rankings. 

I'm not even half way done, but so far I've noted that this book touches on reproductive issues (as I said before), power relations between men and women in both developed and undeveloped countries, woman hood, motherhood and privileges. Interestingly, the character, "Somer" maintains the notion that motherhood and womanhood are synonymous as she struggles to bear a child of her own. "Kavita" struggles with female infanticide and the lack of access to resources as she desperately tries to save her daughter. Two women from two different worlds and cultures' stories are developed here.

Pick up the book today, you won't regret it ;)