An instant bestseller in Canada, The Golden Son is a "sensitive and intelligent work" with an unforgettable story of family, responsibility, love, honour and tradition, in which two childhood friends must balance the expectations of their culture and their families with the desires of their own hearts (National Post).

Author of the bestselling Secret Daughter, Shilpi Somaya Gowda's The Golden Son is about a young Indian doctor who leaves his village for a residency in the US. But he grapples with the expectation that as the oldest son, he is expected to inherit the mantle of arbiter for all village disputes. And he finds himself torn between a beautiful American girl and his old childhood friend.