Gowda's debut novel opens in a small Indian village with a young woman giving birth to a baby girl. The father intends to kill the baby but the mother, Kavita, has her spirited away to a Mumbai orphanage. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Somer, a doctor who can't bear children, is persuaded by her Indian husband, Krishnan, to adopt a child from India. Somer reluctantly agrees and they go to India where they coincidentally adopt Kavita's daughter, Asha. Copies of the book are available for check out one month prior to the meeting. Small meeting room.