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A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel
A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel
A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel
Audiobook9 hours

A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel

Written by Amulya Malladi

Narrated by Deepa Samuel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

A stunning new novel—full of wit and warmth—from the bestselling author of The Mango Season.

In trendy Silicon Valley, Priya has everything she needs—a loving husband, a career, and a home—but the one thing she wants most is the child she’s unable to have. In a Southern Indian village, Asha doesn’t have much—raising two children in a tiny hut, she and her husband can barely keep a tin roof over their heads—but she wants a better education for her gifted son. Pressured by her family, Asha reluctantly checks into the Happy Mothers House: a baby farm where she can rent her only asset—her womb—to a childless couple overseas. To the dismay of friends and family, Priya places her faith in a woman she’s never met to make her dreams of motherhood come true.

Together, the two women discover the best and the worst that India’s rising surrogacy industry has to offer, bridging continents and cultures to bring a new life into the world—and renewed hope to each other.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 1, 2016
ISBN9781511366854
A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel
Author

Amulya Malladi

Amulya Malladi is the author of seven novels, including A House for Happy Mothers, The Sound of Language, and The Mango Season. Her books have been translated into several languages, including Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Romanian, Serbian, and Tamil. She has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in journalism. When she’s not writing, she works as a marketing executive. After several years in Copenhagen, she now lives outside Los Angeles with her husband and two children. Connect with Amulya at www.amulyamalladi.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authoramulya.

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Reviews for A House for Happy Mothers

Rating: 3.9300000639999997 out of 5 stars
4/5

50 ratings8 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There are so many underlying themes in this book from the desire to have a baby, family dynamics, the economics of the poor, the ethics of surrogacy and privilege. The heart of the story belongs to Priya who desperately wants a baby. She has been trying and trying; she’s suffered several miscarriages and failed IVF treatments. She is OVERWHELMED with wanting to have a baby. Her husband supports her but he’d be fine with or without and it’s leading to strains in their marriage. Priya learns of a program where underprivileged women in India will act as surrogates and she sees this as the answer to her prayers. Others around her aren’t so sure.Asha is a poor woman in India with two children. Her son is academically advanced and he is completely bored in his current school but she and her husband cannot afford to send him to a better school. Her husband wants out of the tiny village where they live and into the city. He encourages her to become a surrogate for the money – to him it’s no big deal. Then they can buy a flat and he can find a better job. He gives absolutely NO consideration to the emotional toll it will take on her. He also does not think spending the money on their son’s education should be a priority. He is more concerned with his ego.The House for Happy Mothers is where Priya’s world and Asha’s worlds come together and each woman learns that what they thought about the other’s life is not necessarily true. Nor is the house full of happy mothers.This was a very interesting book for so many reasons. It is so far off of my radar for reading genre and in regards to my life in general but something about it intrigued me. I’m glad I took the chance on it. It’s not perfect, I think it could have goon even deeper into some of the issues – but perhaps the author chose not to intentionally. It could be she wanted to leave the book on the lighter side. Is it ok for a rich woman to pay a poor woman to carry her child? Is it exploitation or is it helping that woman climb out of poverty? In a patriarchal society is the woman really making the decision or is she being pressured into it by a husband? Lots of very interesting questions arise.The book is well written. Most characters are well developed and the storyline was fascinating to me. I’ve never had that baby lust that drives the plot but I was still turning the pages to see how everything played out. It’s a book that makes you think and I was still thinking long after I had turned the last page.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed most of the book except at the very end when the author decided that the two female protagonists were somehow equal because one had a womb for rent and the other had an ability to rent a womb. No matter what, the wealthy woman would always enjoy more privilege. Until that last bit, the book seemed to be painting an honest and nuanced portrait of the social issues that plague women but then the forced “happy ending” ruined it, in my opinion.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An honest portrayal a motherhood and womanhood in its many forms. Priya and Asha are two women from vastly different background and circumstances that become united in life as Asha become Priya's surrogate. Amulya Malladi does a beautiful job of exploring the ups and downs of this journey for both women and their family and friends. Just as the two women come across as relatable and real, so do the people in their lives. From the husbands and in-laws to the other surrogate mothers in the "House for Happy Mothers", everyone brings a unique perspective to the story exploring the struggles, the beauty, and also the moral and ethical dilemmas of surrogacy in the context of a wide spectrum of Indian culture, from Asha's poor, rural India to California's multicultural Bay Area. Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really enjoyed this book. I got it through Kindle Unlimited, and in this case, I definitely got more than I paid for! It's the story of Priya, and Indian-American who cannot have her own baby, and Asha, the Indian surrogate who agrees to carry her baby for her. Their relationship is uneasy at first, but it grows as Priya helps Asha's son and comes to India to visit her. I liked the ending; it was emotional and felt realistic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Title: A House For Happy MothersAuthors: Amulya MalladiPublishers: Brilliance AudioReviewed By: Arlena DeanRating: FiveReview:"A House For Happy Mothers" by Amulya MalladiMy Thoughts...I found this story quite one unique wonderful well written story in that it was such a very interesting subject that will keep the readers attention to the end. A couple from the California who was struggling with infertility and now was to get a surrogate. Now, how will this come out with this surrogate living so far away in India? However, the story proved to be a good attention keeper and the characters were for the most part very developed, defined and believable giving the story an interesting as well as a intriguing read. The author gives the reader something to really to think about as she shows the many aspects of what goes on with the surrogate as with all the emotions that are involved in doing this for another person. Not only is about the surrogate and her husband but also the new mom, her husband along with grandparents, relatives and even friends who are all involved in one way or another by the time this story will ends. It is quite interesting how this author gives the reader a story that shows the two portraying women ...with two opposing experiences that all sides with almost the same issues. I enjoyed how the author brought out the cultural, social expects and views of some of the life as to living India [Southern Indian village]. I felt that this was a good story of how a desperate a person who really wants a baby will go and how a poverty sicken mom who was in need financially will go to what end for her family to become a surrogate mom. I did find the title: "A House For Happy Mother" somewhat ...well, I will say you the reader will have to read and decide for it for yourself ...were the mom's who were being the surrogate moms really happy at what they were having to do in order to survive? So, in the end will this story have a HEA as the story deals with the two moms? I did find this story quite a one different read in that Priya 'sought to understand this surrogate [Asha]and even found a way to even help this family with the education of their son' and she definitely didn't have to do that! Now, I will stop at this point and say you must pick up this read to see how this story will end. Will there be happiness for all? Would I recommend "A House For Happy Mothers?" Yes, it's a very thought provoking read that will leave you with many thoughts long after the read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Deciding to have a baby is oftentimes an easy decision to make. Actually having a baby is not nearly so easy, especially for the countless women who have fertility problems of one sort or another. Whether they have trouble getting pregnant in the first place or suffer the heartbreak of miscarriage after miscarriage, becoming a mother can be fraught for so many. For those women who look at more complicated routes to motherhood, adoption, fertility treatments, or surrogacy, the emotional cost is high. Amulya Malladi's newest novel, The House For Happy Mothers, examines the cost of surrogacy, financially, emotionally, and socially for both the biological mother and the surrogate.Priya is an Indian-American woman living in Silicon Valley. She wants a baby more than almost anything else in her life but she and her husband, Madhu, have suffered several devastating miscarriages. So Priya has decided that their best recourse now is to use a surrogate mother to carry their baby to term. She's researched the idea and joined online forums for women using surrogates and she's chosen the doctor, clinic, and mother that she wants, all near Madhu's family in India. Her own mother thinks that her decision exploits a poor woman in India for her womb and she is incredibly disapproving while Priya's husband is willing to do as she wants even if he isn't completely convinced or as desperate for a baby as she is.Asha is the woman who will carry Priya and Madhu's baby. She is married to Pratap and they have two young children. Pratap is a painter and they live in a tiny hut in a small village. Asha wants more for her children than she and Pratap can provide; in particular she wants to be able to afford to send their oldest son, a clearly gifted child, to a good school. Only by earning money as a surrogate can she afford to do this. Her sister-in-law has been through the surrogacy experience herself and encouraged Asha to do it. Pratap is supportive as well, especially seeing the apartment that his brother and sister-in-law bought with the proceeds of Kaveri's surrogacy. Even so, Asha has doubts about the ease and rightness of the process, emotionally and morally, as well as thanks to the cultural taboo surrounding it requiring her to keep this pregnancy and the baby's fate a secret. Before her doubts overwhelm her though, she is committed and carrying Priya and Madhu's baby.The novel flips back and forth between Priya's and Asha's lives. Each of them have their own concerns and anxiety over the entire situation in which they find themselves. Priya is elated that she will finally be a mother but she worries that her own mother's concern that she is exploiting a poor woman is not entirely off base. She's also terrified that something will go wrong with the baby and pregnancy even as it progresses halfway around the world from her. Asha wonders how she can remain aloof enough from loving the child that grows under her heart to simply hand the baby over to strangers after nine months and she wonders if the financial compensation is really enough to give away a piece of herself. The surrogacy itself gives both women hope for something they would otherwise never have: for Priya, a child, and for Asha, the means to appropriately educate her amazing son. As the pregnancy progresses, each woman feels the strain of her decision on her marriage and on her emotional well-being. Occasionally interspersed in the text are posts from the internet support forum that Priya has found since no one in her actual life understands what she is going through. Asha's support comes mainly from the other surrogate mothers living with her at the Home For Happy Mothers. In both cases, there are women whose opinions on each aspect of the process are in accord with and those who differ from both Priya's and Asha's feelings.Malladi fairly presents two sides to the complicated ethical dilemma presented by the idea of seeking a surrogate in a developing or third world country. The cost for surrogacy is far more than just the financial outlay or income involved and the characters of both Priya and Asha clearly demonstrate that. In fact, the issue encompasses class and privilege, family politics, and gender roles, as well as the strength and determination of mother love. Because the currency of surrogacy is the female body there is much at play here and Malladi addresses several aspects of this very emotionally freighted practice. The move from a purely clinical transaction to a strange but ultimately fleeting (by definition) intimacy is well handled and makes the reader really think about both sides of the situation. Both major characters, Priya and Asha, are imperfect and human in their portrayal and in their feelings about this complicated issue. There are moments that felt a bit repetitive and the forum posts, while giving easy insight into Priya's state of mind, came off as more flip sounding than the rest of the novel. Priya's and Asha's pasts are integrated pretty seamlessly into the present of the text and dividing the whole into three distinct trimesters of pregnancy, each with its own concerns and anxieties was a fun structural decision. The novel is an emotional look at the international politics of babies, the cost of surrogacy, the drive towards motherhood, and the abiding hope that so complicates all of this.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a powerful and timely book. As surrogacy becomes more popular, and less expensive overseas, this book looks at the emotions involved. This book reminds me very much of Jodi Picoult books in that it gives you a scenario showing both sides and a lot of hard choices. Malladi's peak inside the Home for Happy Mothers really puts surrogacy overseas into perspective. For good or bad is up to you to decide but it really makes you think. I really loved this book, the writing was beautiful and the story captivating. A great read, definitely a good choice for a book club or a discussion group.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There are so many underlying themes in this book from the desire to have a baby, family dynamics, the economics of the poor, the ethics of surrogacy and privilege. The heart of the story belongs to Priya who desperately wants a baby. She has been trying and trying; she’s suffered several miscarriages and failed IVF treatments. She is OVERWHELMED with wanting to have a baby. Her husband supports her but he’d be fine with or without and it’s leading to strains in their marriage. Priya learns of a program where underprivileged women in India will act as surrogates and she sees this as the answer to her prayers. Others around her aren’t so sure.Asha is a poor woman in India with two children. Her son is academically advanced and he is completely bored in his current school but she and her husband cannot afford to send him to a better school. Her husband wants out of the tiny village where they live and into the city. He encourages her to become a surrogate for the money – to him it’s no big deal. Then they can buy a flat and he can find a better job. He gives absolutely NO consideration to the emotional toll it will take on her. He also does not think spending the money on their son’s education should be a priority. He is more concerned with his ego.The House for Happy Mothers is where Priya’s world and Asha’s worlds come together and each woman learns that what they thought about the other’s life is not necessarily true. Nor is the house full of happy mothers.This was a very interesting book for so many reasons. It is so far off of my radar for reading genre and in regards to my life in general but something about it intrigued me. I’m glad I took the chance on it. It’s not perfect, I think it could have goon even deeper into some of the issues – but perhaps the author chose not to intentionally. It could be she wanted to leave the book on the lighter side. Is it ok for a rich woman to pay a poor woman to carry her child? Is it exploitation or is it helping that woman climb out of poverty? In a patriarchal society is the woman really making the decision or is she being pressured into it by a husband? Lots of very interesting questions arise.The book is well written. Most characters are well developed and the storyline was fascinating to me. I’ve never had that baby lust that drives the plot but I was still turning the pages to see how everything played out. It’s a book that makes you think and I was still thinking long after I had turned the last page.