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

Customer Rating:
Summary: Realistic
Comment: This is a realistic portrayal of the life on an Indian maid..many times they lead this kind of life..the caste discrimination is nicely portrayed. I have seen these things happen..also good references to honor and culture

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Customer Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Comment: I liked this book very much because it gave me insight into the culture of India. I wish the book had been longer. I loved it. Very indepth with respect to the feelings of the characters.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: well written
Comment: The author's style takes the reader to a world far different than the one most people would know. Her abilty to shape characters and describe their surroundings creates empathy for the struggles people endure in other cultures. However, the ending of the story felt weak in comparison to the emotional heights and depths throughout this complex tale. I felt cheated at the end-as if the author couldn't quite figure out how to bring the story to a conclusion so she just stopped writing.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An Accurate, Yet Bleak Portrayal of Modern Indian Life
Comment: The divide between the rich and poor is portrayed wonderfully in this brilliant novel.

Written through the eyes of an elderly servant living in the slums of Bombay, and an upper middle class Parsi woman, the past and the present of borth women are interwoven as the story unfolds.

Through the novel, the trials and tribulations of the past, present, and future of both women come to light. The fact that the author manages to make seamless transitions into flashbacks that offer an adequate background into what these two women have experienced. This helps the reader better understand the two women and how their current states of mind were sculpted. It also shows how talented this author truly is.

This book was certainly a page turner, and the ending adds realism to what is really a tragic portrayal of how punishing life can be.

This was recommended to me by my mother, who is a Parsi, and I was delighted to see that her name shows up as one of the characters in the book. It offered a nice tutorial on the Parsi culture as well, for those who are interested.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Imitation of Life
Comment: Set in modern-day India and told through two women, the movel shows how the lives of the rich and the poor are intrinsically connnected yet vastly removed from each other, and captures how the bonds of womamhood are pitted against the divisions of class and culture. Reminded me of the Lana Turner movie Imitation of Life. An interesting book that makes you thik about how fortunate we in America really are.

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