Captivating and sublime, a love story with an amazing and intriguing sub-plot.
This novel revolves around the young female protagonist Savarna Sikand, who is an embryologist with Conception Sciences, and is working with fertility treatments in this high-tech laboratory situated in San Francisco. Meanwhile, her parents, originally from eastern India, now living in the United States; have deep roots in an ancient religious cult, and express their desire for their daughter to conceive and thereby continue their rare lineage. What follows is a gripping saga of the dilemma faced by the young scientist Savarna who fights very hard to tread the fine line between her parents’ spiritual beliefs and her own scientific wisdom.
Savarna is also in a complicated relationship, with two different women, and is trying to find the right time to tell her parents that she is a lesbian. There are humorous moments in this novel, which give some lighter moments to these very serious topics. This gives the reader a laugh, and allows them to identify with the particular issues Savarna is going through.
The Last Conception is a very impressive attempt by the author, Gabriel Constans who has chosen such unusual and uncommon themes to write about, that liberates the mind and offers a rare insight into the much spoken and widely discussed matter of science verses spirituality.
Gabriel Constans’ novel is very well structured and thoroughly researched, making it a pleasure to read.