The Space Between Us - Large Print by Thrity Umrigar (Paperback)

About the Book

"This is a story intimately and compassionately toldagainst the sensuous background of everyday life in Bombay." --Washington Post Book World "Bracingly honest." --New York Times Book Review The author of Bombay Time, If Today Be Sweet, and The Weight of Heaven, Thrity Umrigar is at adept andcompelling in The Space Between Us--vividlycapturing the social struggles of modern India in a luminous, addictivelyreadable novel of honor, tradition, class, gender, and family. A portrayal oftwo woman discovering an emotional rapport as they struggle against theconfines of a rigid caste system, Umrigar'scaptivating second novel echoes the timeless intensity of ZoraNeale Hurston's Their Eyes Were WatchingGod, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows inBrooklyn, and Barbara Kingsolver's ThePoisonwood Bible--a quintessential triumph of modern literary fiction.

Book Synopsis

"This is a story intimately and compassionately toldagainst the sensuous background of everyday life in Bombay." --Washington Post Book World

"Bracingly honest." --New York Times Book Review

The author of Bombay Time, If Today Be Sweet, and The Weight of Heaven, Thrity Umrigar is at adept andcompelling in The Space Between Us--vividlycapturing the social struggles of modern India in a luminous, addictivelyreadable novel of honor, tradition, class, gender, and family. A portrayal oftwo woman discovering an emotional rapport as they struggle against theconfines of a rigid caste system, Umrigar'scaptivating second novel echoes the timeless intensity of ZoraNeale Hurston's Their Eyes Were WatchingGod, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows inBrooklyn, and Barbara Kingsolver's ThePoisonwood Bible--a quintessential triumph of modern literary fiction.

From the Back Cover

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.

Review Quotes

"Umrigar is a perceptive and often piercing writer." - New York Times Book Review
"Out of India's seething hotch-potch of humanity Thrity Umrigar has created two vivid female characters, each representative of thousands of real-life Indian women.... At the heart of this novel is the symbiotic relationship--the essence of distance and intimacy--between Sera and Bhima which, after 20 years, remains defined by their differing class, education and wealth.... This ultimately tragic story is told against the vibrant backdrop of modern Mumbai.... The book's pages glow with descriptions of the city.... [Umrigar] tackles, across the span of her characters' lives, many of the issues affecting India today: poverty engendering poverty; the power of privilege and wealth; domestic violence; class; education; women's rights; AIDS. This adds richness, making The Space Between Us far more than an analysis of fate and a portrait of the bonds of womanhood. It is also a powerful social commentary on the glorious and frustrating jigsaw puzzle that is modern India." - The Economist
"[The Space Between Us] is a great book; I love it.... I couldn't stop reading until Bhima had her amazing epiphany of freedom at the edge of the sea. I am so happy for Thrity Umrigar! And proud of her as a woman, too.... It is so precious to have a book about a woman one rarely even "sees" in society, whether Indian or American." - Alice Walker on THE SPACE BETWEEN US
"Umrigar is a perceptive and often piercing writer.... Her portrait of Sera as a woman unable to transcend her middle-class skin feels bracingly honest." - New York Times Book Review
"The Space Between Us is a novel that is hard to forget." - The Times (London)
"Umrigar's imagery, gorgeous yet unflinching in its realism, creates a rich picture of Indian society in Bombay, from slum to skyscraper. Her symbolism is lovely." - Charlotte Observer
"A deeply affecting novel about a wealthy widow and her maid, who form a bond across the gulfs of class and status in modern-day Bombay." - Life magazine
"[The Space Between Us] is provocative and disturbing." - Boston Globe
"Intimately and compassionately told.... Sensuous.... Umrigar's memorable characters will live on for a long time." - Frances Itani, Washington Post Book World
"Umrigar's schematic novel illustrates the intimacy, and the irreconcilable class divide, between two women in contemporary Bombay.... Umrigar's writing achieves clarity." - Publishers Weekly
"Umrigar is a highly skilled storyteller...the novel's plot and depth of characterisation provide irresistible momentum." - Time Out New York
"Sadness suffuses this eloquent tale, whose heart-stopping plot twists reveal the ferocity of fate." - Booklist (starred review)
"Heartbreaking.... A subtle, elegant analysis of class and power... that quietly roars against tyranny." - Kirkus Reviews
"Poignant." - Entertainment Weekly
"With humanity and suspense, novelist Thrity Umrigar tackles love, loyalty, injustice - and survival." - Marie Claire
"From page one, Thrity Umrigar's novel thrusts us into a story that's at once heartbreaking and soothing. Chronicling the tumultuous lives of two women, The Space Between Us doesn't flinch from its scrutiny of human suffering; then it gently, gently guides us toward healing." - Samrat Upadhyay, author of The Royal Ghosts