The Book Stacks

Alone but for the daughter growing in her womb and the five-year-old daughter by her side, Isha Tilak leaves the comfort and security of her recently deceased husband’s home to strike out on her own. Full of questions about her husband’s sudden, mysterious and violent death, Isha takes refuge in a convent and tries to get her life back together.

Help comes in the form of not only family but a doctor named Harish who meets Isha at the convent not long after Isha gives birth to her second daughter. With the help and kindness of others, Isha is soon living a content and happy life.

But not is all as it seems because Isha unknowingly holds the proof that could destroy the career and reputation of a doctor tempted enough by greed to perform abortions for a fee.

And he would do anything to get that information out of her hands…

This is the second book by Shobhan Bantwal that I have reviewed her – the first being The Dowry Bride – so I’ll try to keep this a review and not a comparison of the two.

Once again, Bantwal takes us to the beautiful yet gritty India for a close look at the triumphs and hardships of a strong, Indian woman. Isha is easy to sympathize with, being a mother who is willing to give up everything so her daughters can have a better life. She has her doubts and fears, making her even more real to the reader, but she trudges through for the sake of her children.

While The Forbidden Daughter has some familiar plot points – Indian women leaving home, conveniently placed men to help them, a kidnapping – to The Dowry Bride, I don’t think that takes away from being able to enjoy the book. The Forbidden Daughter brings together a serious social issue – female feticide – with a murder mystery and romance, and packages it all together as a women’s fiction novel.

To top that off, Bantwal has an easy-to-read writing style that takes second place to the story being told.

I would have liked to have seen more of the Indian culture worked in, but Bantwal is a people-focused writer and she doesn’t let anything weigh her down in that aspect.

If you’re looking for a ‘dense’ book about political stances and whatnot, then this probably isn’t the book for you. However…

I recommend this book, especially if you are a romantic, like books focused on people and their interactions, or both.