Angela Savage

Angela Savage is a well-known literary identity in Melbourne: she's Director of Writers Victoria, and she's an award-winning writer of crime novels. Mother of Pearl, however, is a departure in genre, written as the creative component of her PhD thesis. It's a novel about commercial surrogacy in Thailand.

Readers might remember the grotesque story of an Australian sex-offender who had used commercial surrogacy in Thailand and then refused to take one of the resulting twins because the child had Down Syndrome. Thailand has since banned commercial surrogacy (and so has Nepal and India) but that just means that agencies have debunked to Cambodia where surrogacy remains unregulated, and desperately poor Thai women are still travelling there to have embryos implanted.

So although Mother of Pearl is set in Thailand before commercial surrogacy was outlawed, the issues raised remain relevant today. The novel explores the situation from the perspective of Meg, a Melbourne woman who has never come to terms with her infertility; her sister Anna who has spent her entire career as an aid worker trying to empower women in Southeast Asia; and the surrogate Mukda, a single mother who wants to improve the life chances of her son by earning the kind of money she could never otherwise earn.

Like an increasing number of us, I suppose, I've seen both sides of assisted reproductive technology, close up. I've seen joy at the arrival of a longed-for baby, and I've seen the unresolved mental health issues caused by the promise of IVF as against its real success rates. These are now more transparent in Australia, but at best they're around 35% for women under 30, and there's always a gap between 'clinical pregnancies' and live births. But it's not so long ago that women were lured by false promises when the success rate was extremely low and the probability of a baby remained a dream for most who tried it. And I've formed the view that the longer a woman persists with years of unsuccessful IVF the more likely it is that an obsession forms.

It's that pathway that is followed by the character of Meg. A chance encounter with a couple of gays and their new baby born through commercial surrogacy in Thailand is the trigger for her suppressed yearning to erupt into a new quest for a child. And so begins the journey into what is an unfamiliar culture, a change in her relationship with her sister, and a steeliness about the transaction that will make some readers feel very uncomfortable. Anna has to reconcile her professional concerns and her love for her sister, while the surrogate Mukda has to negotiate emotional burdens of her own.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/07/15/mother-of-pearl-by-angela-savage/… (altro)

Jayne and Rajiv's newly formed partnership of Keeney and Patel, private investigators, is severely tested when they agree to investigate the suspicious death of their tour guide. Jayne is really too used to making decisions without reference to others. Rajiv on the other hand believes Jayne is far too impulsive and doesn't take into account the costs of the time she spends investigating. Jayne is only too willing to admit that she has made almost no profit as a private investigator so far.

The novel is set against economic and social issues besetting modern Thailand, particularly foreign and Thai businessmen trying to make quick profits without due consideration of the environmental impacts of their schemes. Villagers too are losing traditional rights when incomers seize on land that appears to belong to no-one. Others are worried by Thai locals becoming so heavily reliant on tourist income, and by the almost automatic degradation of the local way of life.

I was impressed in this novel by the author's empathetic depiction of village life and of Thai customs, of the responsibility felt by village elders, as well as the detailed explanation of the social and economic issues surrounding the murders. Angela Savage takes us a little away from the beaten track, out of Bangkok, to areas that have tourist potential, but where change/modernisation will come at a price.… (altro)

Third novel in the Jayne Keeney PI series by Angela Savage. Set in Thailand, the Jayne and her partner investigate the death of a young tour guide and become embroiled in conflict over economic development versus environmental protection. An entertaining and well-written page-turner. For my full-review, please see Whispering Gums: http://whisperinggums.com/2014/03/06/angela-savage-the-dying-beach-review/… (altro)