The Space Between Us: A Novel

• Publisher:   William Morrow
• Number Of Pages:   336
• Publication Date:   2006-01-01
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0060791551
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780060791551

Each morning, Bhima, a domestic servant in contemporary Bombay, leaves her own small shanty in the slums to tend to another woman's house. In Sera Dubash's home, Bhima scrubs the floors of a house in which she remains an outsider. She cleans furniture she is not permitted to sit on. She washes glasses from which she is not allowed to drink. Yet despite being separated from each other by blood and class, she and Sera find themselves bound by gender and shared life experiences.

Sera is an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage. A widow, she devotes herself to her family, spending much of her time caring for her pregnant daughter, Dinaz, a kindhearted, educated professional, and her charming and successful son-in-law, Viraf.

Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years. Cursed by fate, she sacrifices all for her beautiful, headstrong granddaughter, Maya, a university student whose education -- paid for by Sera -- will enable them to escape the slums. But when an unwed Maya becomes pregnant by a man whose identity she refuses to reveal, Bhima's dreams of a better life for her granddaughter, as well as for herself, may be shattered forever.

Poignant and compelling, evocative and unforgettable, The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day India and witnessed through two compelling and achingly real women, the novel shows how the lives of the rich and the poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and vividly captures how the bonds of womanhood are pitted against the divisions of class and culture.

The Space Between Us, Thrity Umrigar's poignant novel about a wealthy woman and her downtrodden servant, offers a revealing look at class and gender roles in modern day Bombay. Alternatively told through the eyes of Sera, a Parsi widow whose pregnant daughter and son-in-law share her elegant home, and Bhima, the elderly housekeeper who must support her orphaned granddaughter, Umrigar does an admirable job of creating two sympathetic characters whose bond goes far deeper than that of employer and employee.

When we first meet Bhima, she is sharing a thin mattress with Maya, the granddaughter upon whom high hopes and dreams were placed, only to be shattered by an unexpected pregnancy and its disastrous consequences. As time goes on, we learn that Sera and her family have used their power and money time and time again to influence the lives of Bhima and Maya, from caring for Bhima's estranged husband after a workplace accident, to providing the funds for Maya's college education. We also learn that Sera's seemingly privileged life is not as it appears; after enduring years of cruelty under her mother-in-law's roof, she faced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband, pain that only Bhima could see and alleviate. Yet through the triumphs and tragedies, Sera and Bhima always shared a bond that transcended class and race; a bond shared by two women whose fate always seemed to rest in the hands of others, just outside their control.

Told in a series of flashbacks and present day encounters, The Space Between Us gains strength from both plot and prose. A beautiful tale of tragedy and hope, Umrigar's second novel is sure to linger in readers' minds. --Gisele Toueg

Great book about the difference between cultures and how the wealthy treat their help...makes you think. The main character had no money or self-esteem...typical of the social class she was in. I was upset how the upper class treated the lower class so poorly and didn't even realize how terrible their lives were.

Having just recently read, 'The Help", this is another interesting angle on the relationship between employee and employer. Here it involves an upper class Indian woman, and her house keeper, and is told with unflinching honesty. This is the first book I've read by Umrigar, but it certainly wont be the last

Loved this book. It's well written but not at all heavy lifting - exlores universal themes having to do with the upstairs/downstairs dynamic and domestic help. It's a book that sticks with you and leaves you wanting more.

Two women, of different classes, in India, suffer immense losses and betrayals. Due to their class differences, the ending for one is predictable, but despite that, this story is beautifully written and deserves to be read.

The book, Space between us, is disjointed, character has no hidden spark, beaten by surroundings and life circumstanses. Eastern indian maids are slaves. the women are beaten for almost any reason and without education, living in the slums, one becomes a drone. i just do not get why books portray these women as mean, ruthless to the wives of the sons and cold hearted to the daughters. Read The Help for a better written portrayal of maids/cooks and their employers. the author spent a lot of time talking of the slums-very little words about the fancy house the maid worked in. would not recommend.

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