The House of Hidden Mothers

Shyama is in love like she has never been before. Pale and English, Toby, a farmer's son, treats her with the love and respect her former Asian husband never did.

Shyama loves so keenly that she badly wants them to have a baby. But at 44 years old, she cannot conceive. She elects to use a surrogate.

When Shyama meets the young girl from rural India who will be the surrogate mother, they form a deep friendship. Mala is wise and kind, and ambitious to escape her background.

It is only as the child is born that devastating decisions will be made. Decisions that will leave one of them broken....

Meera Syal, CBE, is one of our most acclaimed actors and writers of stage and screen. She starred in the hit series The Kumars at No. 42 and recently in the BBC film of David Walliams' The Boy in the Dress. She is currently in David Hare's play Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, and in the latest series of Broadchurch. Meera is also known for her funny, sharp and provocative fiction. Her two earlier novels are Anita and Me (a national curriculum set text) and Life Isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee. The House of Hidden Mothers is her long-awaited third novel.