Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters: A Novel

A
breathtaking novel about the ties that bind mothers and daughters together and the
secrets that tear them apart.

Veena, Mala
and Nandini are three very different women with something in common. Out of
love, each bears a secret that will haunt her life—and that of her daughter—because
the risk of telling the truth is too great. But secrets have consequences. Particularly
for Asha, a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, who links them together.

After her
eighteenth birthday, Asha is devastated to learn that she was adopted as a
baby. What’s more, her birth mother died of a mysterious illness, leaving Asha
with only a letter.

Nandini,
Asha’s adoptive mother, has always feared the truth would come between them.

Veena, a
recent widow, worries about her daughter Mala’s future. The shock of her
husband’s sudden death leaves her shaken and convinces her that the only way to
keep her daughter safe is to secure her future.

Mala
struggles to balance her dreams and ambition with her mother’s expectations. She
must bear a secret, the burden of which threatens her very life.

Three
mothers—each bound by love, deceit and a young woman who connects them all. Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters
is an intergenerational novel about family, duty and the choices we make in the
name of love.

Anita Kushwaha’s debut novel Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters weaves together the stories of three women over three generations, their lives wrapped in cultural expectations and haunted by secrets. A beautiful but at times heartbreaking look at motherhood in its various forms, the story of Veena, Mala and Nandini drew me in. I didn’t put the book down until I had turned the last page.

An engaging and thought-provoking read, Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters paints a heart-wrenching portrait of the interconnected lives of women struggling with loss and coming to terms with the secrets they kept to meet society’s expectations. I couldn’t put it down! - Farah Heron, author of The Chai Factor

Anita Kushwaha’s novel Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters is an evocative and lyrical work. The intersecting stories of Mala, Nandini and Asha will leave readers enthralled; you won’t be able to stop turning pages in this well written dramatic tale of family, secrets, and betrayal. - Uzma Jalaluddin, author of Ayesha At Last.

“Gripping (you’ll read it in a day).”  - The Globe and Mail

Kushwaha writes what she knows, but does so in such harmonious prose that her story-telling rises to a level of universalism. - Ottawa Review of Books