Mum’s the word

Thousands of miles away in London, Kate and Ben are desperate for a baby. But, despite all their efforts, fate seems to be skewed against them. Then, as Kate suffers another miscarriage, she knows something has to change. She has heard of women who are prepared to carry a baby for others, and she knows this might be a way to finally find happiness. But will her desire for a baby stop at nothing?

And between the two, feisty social worker Simran Singh is determined to uncover the truth behind the shadowy facade of the multi-million dollar surrogacy industry. Women and children are being exploited, their lives thrown away like so much dust. Is she the only person prepared to stand up for what is right?

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Kiswar Desai’s new novel Origins of Love is about India’s flourishing surrogacy industry, drawing in doctors and parents, cops and politicians, ‘desis’ and ‘goras’ into a complex, unputdownable dragnet. The author tells Renuka Bisht about this genre she is ‘inventing’ as she goes along, coupling real life issues with crime fiction. And about a female protagonist who is everything that the ‘ideal’ Indian woman is NOT supposed to be.

Simran seems somehow familiar, like a woman

... contd.