Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters Quotes

“Mala supposed that for him a sham, arranged marriage was inevitable, knowing that his parents would shun him if they discovered the truth about his sexuality. Mala could relate to this fear. She risked losing so much if she couldn’t find a way to keep the sham going now.”
― Anita Kushwaha, Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters

“The shape of her marriage, if you could call it that. Dark and deep. A cave. A place of blackness where they could hide their transgressions, their truths, their secret selves. Maybe she and Sumesh were a perfect match, after all. Mala envied him. True, he had been exposed, and that exposure had left him vulnerable. But it also meant he was free.”
― Anita Kushwaha, Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters

“She wasn’t naive enough to believe in the covert misogyny of having it all.”
― Anita Kushwaha, Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters

“In that instant, Nandini gave up what she had held on to so tightly for too long. She relinquished her jealous heart. Tossed it away. Stomped on it. Along with her relentless need to claim all the good in Asha as a reflection of herself, and herself alone. Nandini didn’t care anymore that Asha had another mother,”
― Anita Kushwaha, Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters

“warmth she felt when they were together was the only thing that tamed the cold beast of loneliness she had been carrying inside since finding out she was adopted.”
― Anita Kushwaha, Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters

“A family’s a fragile thing, Asha. It takes years to build and even longer to find harmony. That’s what we have, though, the three of us. I didn’t want to jeopardize that. I never wanted you to doubt your place in our family, when we’ve never doubted, not even for a second, that you were meant for us. Which is why I kept putting it off.”
― Anita Kushwaha, Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters