Ten years after its release, novelist Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s debut Secret Daughter is still topping charts. The book ranks as one of Canada’s best-selling books of the decade.

Secret Daughter ranked second in Canadian sales from 2010 to 2019, according to Booknet Canada. The story explores themes of gender, motherhood, and self-discovery.

Shilpi says her Morehead-Cain Summer Enrichment experiences at an orphanage in India inspired the basis for Secret Daughter. She talked about her winding path to becoming an international bestselling author in her SEVEN Talk during the 2018 Morehead-Cain Alumni Forum.

Shilpi wrote two more novels before the end of the decade. The Golden Son was published in 2015; The Shape of Family was released in December of 2019 and debuted on multiple Canadian bestseller lists.