Mumbai: Motherhood is routinely presented as an almost sacred triad of instinct, fulfilment and unconditional love. Society, media and even well-meaning relatives reinforce the idea that once a woman becomes a mother, something innate and luminous simply switches on.
Khyati Agrawal Gupta’s novel The Things We Don’t Say on Tuesdays quietly dismantles that polished image. Instead of celebrating the ideal, the book turns its attention to everything that is routinely left unsaid: the relentless invisible labour, the slow accumulation of resentment, the unequal emotional and practical contracts within marriages, and the quiet terror of losing one’s sense of self inside the role of “mother.”
The story is anchored by Neytra, a woman who joins a support group for mothers in Mumbai. The group becomes both a narrative device and a microcosm of contemporary urban motherhood. Through Neytra’s eyes, the reader is introduced to women whose experiences refuse to fit the dominant script. Veda grapples with the painful absence of the maternal bond she had been led to expect; her struggle is not framed as failure but as a legitimate and under-discussed reality.
Naina confronts the long-term uncertainties of living with endometriosis—a condition that affects fertility, pain, and future planning in ways that are often medically and socially minimised. Katha, whose daughter survived a premature birth, continues to carry the psychological and emotional residue of their time in the NICU; the novel acknowledges that survival does not erase the trauma of almost-loss.Gupta’s greatest achievement lies in the way she holds these difficult stories without turning them into either tragedy or inspirational uplift.
She balances genuine distress with warmth and sharp observational wit. Everyday absurdities—the small, ridiculous, exhausting details of domestic life—sit comfortably alongside heavier emotional truths. This tonal range prevents the novel from becoming heavy-handed. The reader is allowed to laugh, recognise, and ache in the same chapter.At its core, the book makes a modest but powerful claim: speaking honestly about the harder parts of motherhood will not magically solve a woman’s problems. It will not redistribute the laundry, repair an unequal marriage, or restore a missing maternal instinct.
What it can do, however, is interrupt isolation. The support group, and by extension the novel itself, becomes a space where women can name their experiences without apology. In a culture that still prefers mothers to be grateful and silent, that naming carries real weight.
The Things We Don’t Say on Tuesdays is not a book that offers easy answers or redemptive arcs for every character. Its strength is its clear-eyed recognition of complexity. It treats motherhood as a lived, varied, and often contradictory experience rather than a single emotional destination. For readers who have felt the gap between the public story of motherhood and their private reality, the novel offers a rare sense of being seen.This is a thoughtful, compassionate work best savoured slowly—an ideal weekend read.
It also makes a meaningful gift, not only for mothers but for partners who wish to understand the emotional landscape their loved ones navigate. Available worldwide on Amazon.
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