First-time author Shilpi Somaya Gowda brings to life two opposing but heart-rending concerns to jump-start her novel – infertility for North American women and the disregard for girls in India – through the stories of two families, the American Thakkars, both doctors, and the poverty-stricken Merchants in rural India..The novel is often emotionally poignant, especially when Gowda taps into the losses and fears that both mothers face, or as Asha slowly begins to appreciate what a family in all its intricacies can mean.

In her engaging debut, Gowda weaves together two compelling stories... Gowda writes with compassion and uncanny perception ..., while portraying the vibrant traditions, sights, and sounds of modern India.

Dualities abound in this engrossing first novel by Dallas writer Shilpi Somaya Gowda.

The story arcs over 25 years in two nations with very different cultures: India and the United States. The narrative follows two sets of parents, and at the heart of the tale are two children..The sounds, scents and sights of India are vividly drawn, pulling the reader deep into a culture that most of us have only glimpsed, perhaps, in Slumdog Millionaire. Two worlds collide, then meld, in a story that intimately considers how we all are shaped, through fate or free will, nurture or nature, by the astounding power of family love

“First novelist Gowda offers especially vivid descriptions of the contrasts and contradictions of modern India … Rife with themes that lend themselves to discussion, such as cultural identity, adoption, and women's roles.”

"[A] fable of family division and reconciliation, gaining intensity and depth from the author’s sharp social observations.”