Nikki Patel

A Mother's Secret Nikki Patel

An unforgettable journey through the lush landscape of India to the heart of what it means to be a mother and daughter.

What if you discovered everything you knew about yourself as a lie?

When pregnant Jaya loses her mother, then her baby son Arun in a tragic cot death, her world crashes down. Overcome by grief and guilt, she begins to look for answers.

Looking through her mother's belongings, she finds two diaries and old photographs, carrying the smoky aroma of fire. A young boy smiles out at Jaya from every photograph - and in one, a family stand proudly in front of a sprawling mansion. Who is this child? And why did her mother treasure this memento of a regal family lost to the past?

As Jaya starts to read the diaries, their secrets lead her back to India, to the ruin of a once grand house on a hill. There, Kali, wizened and confused, half-living in a world of memory and fantasy, will unlock the story of a devastating lie and a fire that tore a family apart.

Nothing, though, will prepare Jaya for the house's final revelation, which will change everything Jaya knew about herself.