Lucky Boy : Book Review

Soli dreamt of a better life in the United States. Determined to survive in spite of tragedy and suffering, she will work hard and keep her head down. She is blessed with a beautiful son she names Ignacio and she loves being a mother. When she is arrested and held in a detention center for undocumented immigrants, her son is taken from her. Broken and terrified, Soli will not give up hope of being reunited with her little son.

Kavya and Rishi want to be parents. After years of infertility and a failed IVF attempt, they decide to be foster parents. They were surprised by how much they could love the tiny Ignacio and cannot bear to let him go. His biological mother is going to be deported to Mexico. Surely, Ignacio will have a better life in America with them.

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaram is the heartbreaking tale of two women in love with one small boy. Both want the best for the child and are overwhelmed by the hole left in their hearts at the thought of being without him. This novel broke my mother-heart and left me affected and changed. Discussing sensitive and timely topics such as immigration, privilege and infertility, Lucky Boy allows the reader to feel empathy for the characters who are so richly developed, I feel sure they are living and struggling in Berkeley right now.

I had just started reading Lucky Boy in September when I ended up in the emergency room with intense pain and a high fever. The book traveled with me by ambulance to the larger hospital for surgery and then sat on my night stand. I always assumed that time in a hospital would allow for good, uninterrupted reading time but I was so out of it with pain and then medication that I didn't read at all.  Unfortunately, as I recovered Lucky Boy got pushed aside for other books and I finally got back to it last weekend. I quickly became reacquainted with the characters and found the conflict between the two mothers to be very compelling and was entirely emotional at the conclusion of the novel.

Lucky Boy is a powerful novel and Sekaram is an author to watch.

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Shekaram is published by Putnam. It released in hardcover in January 2017 and was reprinted in paperback edition in September 2017.

**I received a complimentary copy of the novel. This review reflects my honest opinions. No compensation was received.**