Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters by Anita Kushwaha

A special thank you to the author, Anita Kushwaha, and HarperCollins Canada for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

After her eighteenth birthday, Asha is devastated to learn that she was adopted. Her birth mother died when she was a baby from a mysterious illness. She left Asha a letter that leaves her with more questions than answers.

Nandini, Asha’s adoptive mother, has always feared the truth because she knows that it would come between her and her daughter.

Veena, a recent widow, is worried about her daughter Mala’s future. She is still in shock from the death of her husband and is pushing her daughter into marriage to secure her future.

Mala is struggling to balance what she wants to be against what her mother wants for her. She also has a secret that is threatening her very life.

Kushwaha is a beautiful storyteller. In Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters she intersects the stories of Veena, Mala, and Nandidi. At the centre of this powerful story is Asha—the girl that connects them all.

Each of the women have cultural obligations as well as expectations that have been placed on them. They also have a secret, one that that is born out of love and that will impact not only their lives, but also the lives of their daughters—the risk of telling the truth is too great, as are the consequences. What unfolds is an emotional and powerful story about family, obligations, and the choices we make for those we love.

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ANITA KUSHWAHA studied human geography at Carleton University and earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. She is also a graduate of the Humber School for Writers creative writing program. Her first novel, Side by Side, won the silver medal for multicultural fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2019. She is also the author of the novella The Escape Artist.

Kushwaha lives in Ottawa.