A HOUSE FOR HAPPY MOTHERS

Deepa Samuel sweetly narrates this rich story of two women, separated by continents and astonishingly dissimilar lives whose worlds intersect because each is desperately yearning for the unattainable. Samuel provides just enough differentiation of the two main characters. She gives a melodic lilt to the voice of Priya, a successful Californian of Indian descent, in depicting her inconsolable longing for a baby after multiple miscarriages. Asha, a traditional wife and mother in lower-class India, is perceptively portrayed as she is persuaded by her husband to serve as a surrogate to earn money for their gifted son's education. Each woman grapples with layers of regret and joy, especially when Asha discovers that the Indian home for surrogate mothers is not as lovely as it first appears. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2016]