By P. Gunasegaram
It is not immediately obvious from the title but this is a novel about adoption in middle age which has more than a ring of truth to it because the author Sunita Sue Leng, a Malaysian living in Singapore, became a mother through that path herself.
Even if we are not fathers or mothers through adoption, don’t we know a whole lot of people who have become so through adoption. I found it a fascinating subject for a novel.
The book, a finalist for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2025 in Singapore, is not a memoir but an interesting amalgam of personal experience and imagination to produce a highly readable realistic fictional account of a couple living in Singapore who decided to adopt at middle age.
The tone is breezy and humorous as it deftly lightens the heaviness of the topic by nifty writing to make the book a fun, feel-good read.
It manages to deal with the seriousness of a decision to adopt, menopause, racism, tough standards set by authorities for adoption, and a change in mind of those giving their children up for adoption, amongst others.
Thus the title “The Unlikely Motherhood of Shaleni May”. Shaleni, like Sunita, is of mixed parentage, and similarly decided to adopt at the age of over 40 a child of mixed parentage. As with many couples who initially don’t aspire for children, the fictional couple do so at an older age.
The other notable feature of the book is that it is not always in the voice of Shaleni herself but also incorporates the views of the husband, referred to in the book as the Field Marshal – it becomes clearer why as we read on.
That’s a welcome and fresh juxtaposition which injects into the whole story the views, feelings and apprehensions regularly of the other party to the adoption making it more balanced and even. And a bit more fun to read especially with splashes of humour interspersed.
The novel opens with Shaleni, aged 57, meeting with a “mummy influencer” for the recording of a podcast. “She has read some posts I banged out after one drink too many (which for me is about two glasses of cheap bubbly). A ramble about the ups and downs about becoming a first time mother at 45.”
In a nutshell, that’s what the book is about. But it is how you tell the story that counts. The pace picks up from here. Shaleni meets the Field Marshal, they marry. And what’s with Field Marshal?
“I opted for a label pilfered from a Myers-Briggs personality test that he pressured us to to do early in our relationship. It found him highly skilled in situational organising (two words that make me fall asleep), and although I secretly scoffed at it then, the name – Field Marshal – has surprisingly weathered the test of time.”
And so the story is told to Jazelle – that’s the name of the podcaster – in Shaleni’s voice and the Field Marshal’s and those hilarious exchanges with Jazelle in the podcast.
Life was a breeze and everything blew along gently until one day the mutt arrived, an injured dog tied to a bush discovered while the couple was forest bathing, taken to the vet and since there was no microchip (remember this is Singapore) on him to identify the owner, adopted.
And so, the mutt became part of the family. The Field Marshal said one fine day, “Life is so much better with this one,” tickling her ears. “Imagine what it would be like having a child,” he casually added.
Don’t underestimate the power of a dog – if you have had one for a long time you know how much joy they bring and how much care they require – like a child almost. It’s heart wrenching when they die.
Since Shaleni was getting on in age and the prognosis was not good for a natural birth, the only option was, well, adoption. And we are well into the story.
I won’t say much more so that I do not spoil the fun for you when you read the book. But this excerpt from the podcast with Jazelle says it all, well almost: “You know, my son has made me cry till I laughed. Laugh till I cried. Or peed because the bladder control after menopause is disturbingly not what it used to be.
“But he is the gift of time and youth when I thought my best years were past me. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
There’s quite a mix of emotions – moments of illness and worry, a second adoption aborted at the last minute for reasons so incomprehensible that I had to ask Sunita if it was real experience or fiction. The answer: It did not happen to us but to someone we knew.
Says Sunita in conversation ( she’s a former colleague and a long-time friend), she did not want it to be a heavy read about the pleasures and problems of adoption but to deal with serious issues surrounding adoption with humour and some levity. Who would read it otherwise, she adds.
I would say she succeeded very well indeed, combining fantasy and realism with humour and wit to make a difficult topic readable and funny, with moments of deep pathos thrown in for good measure. It’s a damn good read, but don’t take it too literally – at the core it’s fiction.
Sunita, holder of a first class business administration degree from Warwick and the professional Chartered Financial Analyst designation, has worked as a journalist, an equity analyst and was in corporate finance too before.
But she considers the novel, her first at the age of 57 the same as Shaleni’s, her most fulfilling work to date. I can understand why. I believe we will be hearing more from her.
The book is available online at MPH and Kinokuniya and retails at Lit Books outlets in Petaling Jaya and Bangsar, selling for between RM60-70 a copy.
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