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    The House of Hidden Mothers: A Novel
    The House of Hidden Mothers: A Novel
    The House of Hidden Mothers: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    The House of Hidden Mothers: A Novel

    Written by Meera Syal

    Narrated by Meera Syal

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Shyama, a forty-eight-year-old London divorcee, already has an unruly teenage daughter, but that doesn't stop her and her younger lover, Toby, from wanting a child together. Their relationship may look like a cliche, but despite the news from her doctor that she no longer has any viable eggs, Shyama's not ready to give up on their dream of having a baby. So they decide to find an Indian surrogate to carry their child, which is how they meet Mala, a young woman trapped in an oppressive marriage in a small Indian town from which she's desperate to escape. But as the pregnancy progresses, they discover that their simple arrangement may be far more complicated than it seems.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 14, 2016
    ISBN9781515976646
    The House of Hidden Mothers: A Novel
    Author

    Meera Syal

    Meera Syal is a writer, actress, playwright, comic and novelist. She wrote the screenplays for the films Bhaji on the Beach and the multi-award-winning My Sister Wife. Anita and Me, her first novel, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Her second novel, Life Isn’t All Ha-Ha, Hee-Hee, was published in 1999.

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    Reviews for The House of Hidden Mothers

    4/5

    15 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Shyama is divorced with a teenage daughter. Toby her new partner is a lot younger than her but they want a child together. Shyama is reaching fifty and its not easy getting pregnant so she and Toby resort to surrogacy. Mala lives in India where surrogacy is big business. Shyama, Toby and Malas lives are brought together all because of a baby. I have read Anita and Me by Meera Syal and thought it was a very funny book and quite enjoyed it. This book drew me in straight away more than what I thought it would. It wasn't as funny as Anita and Me I think mainly because of the subject matter. For me I think the book lost its way. I didnt see the point of the the sub plot of Shyamas parents battle over a property. I also found a couple of issues with Tara not necessary to the story. For me the book lodt its way especially towards the end. The ending was really flawed and I found quite unbelievable, but suppose it is possible. I did finish the book so there had to be enough for me to do so. I didn't like any of the characters at all and felt they did come over very selfish at times.Im not sure who I would recommend this book to but felt it was maybe a women's book. I can imagine the book creating a good discussion on the subject of surrogacy and its practices in India. An average read from a very funny writer. .
    • 5/5
      Meera Syal has become one of my favorite writers - two novels down, one to go. This one is chock full o'plot set in London and Delhi, and in the center is Shyama, daughter, mother, divorcee, and lover of the white Brit Toby, ten years younger and eager for a child. Shyama's a successful business owner, and her daughter Tara is 19 and contentious and contemptuous of her mother's effort to keep her young lover via procreation. When reality sets in after another failed IVF attempt, Shyama and Toby head to Delhi to find a surrogate to carry a donor egg and Toby's sperm. Massive complications ensue.A very strong side plot features Shyama's parents, who have been fighting bureaucracy and corruption to reclaim their Delhi retirement home, which has been taken over by a squatter niece, and the surrogate Mala, whose tale could be its own novel.The characters are so vivid and their inner thoughts so thoroughly rendered that I was yearning to meet and converse with them all. Syal gives the reader fly-on-the-wall status in a most satisfactory way.
    • 4/5
      Surrogacy in India.I wasn't aware that surrogacy was big business in India, so this book was quite enlightening. However, although it's called The House of Hidden Mothers, we actually barely enter that house and a large part of the narrative occurs in the UK, which seemed a bit 'off-topic'.Other characters do spend a fair bit of time in India though, and the battle to repossess the grandparents' house was unbelievably tied up with bribery and corruption, which reminded me of a book I read recently: Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. Shyama, an Indian living in UK, has a teenage daughter, Tara, from her first marriage, but is desperate to have a child with her younger partner, Toby. As she is unable to conceive, they decide to go to India and find a surrogate mother. The child is to have Toby's genes, and an egg from a donor. Mala, an impoverished village girl, is paid to carry the child for them and to do so, she must leave her village and stay in the Mothers' House.If the story had revolved around life in the Mothers' House as we are led to expect, I think I would have enjoyed this more, but the fact that Mala travels back to the UK with Shyama and Toby just didn't ring true and I found this a less than convincing plot line, with an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.Towards the end there is a third thread that involves Tara becoming involved in womens' rights in a newly aware India. Although interesting, this did seem a bit unnecessary to the plot.And why do Indian writers have to use so many Indian words, which readers in English are going to find largely unintelligible?A reasonably enjoyable read, but recommended with reservations.
    • 4/5
      Amazon said this book was 239 pages long so I thought it was worth giving it a try when I wasn't completely sure it was my cup of tea. However, when it arrived it was 422 pages long! And its length is part of the reason why I'm giving it 3.5 stars and not more. I did really like most parts of this novel but there were bits when I thought it could have been cut down and I wouldn't have missed anything. But actually, this book is not so much about the surrogacy as it is about Indian families living in England, and family life in general.Shyama is older than her partner, Toby. They've been trying for a baby but no luck and they turn to a surrogate. They travel from London to Delhi, where Shyama's parents are from to visit a surrogacy clinic and they meet Mala, a young woman who becomes the carrier of Toby's baby. Shyama's late-teen daughter, Tara, isn't best pleased and is suffering from a lot of angst, and her parents, Prem and Sita, are nonplussed and in the middle of fighting a legal battle to get family members out of the flat they bought in Delhi for their retirement.As you can tell, there's quite a lot going on in this book. Overall, I enjoyed it and it certainly kept me interested and reading to the end, but there's just that niggling feeling that it was overlong. Meera Syal has a nice, warm style of writing and has created some interesting characters. She also writes in an appealing way about India. I haven't read any of her other books but I would consider doing so.