Author(s): Thrity Umrigar

World fiction

Devastating in its power, remarkable in its achievement, here is a searing, addictively readable novel that vividly captures the delicate balance of class and gender in contemporary India - witnessed through the lives of two compelling women bound by friendship and loss, yet separated by blood and class. Sera Dubash is an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide years of disappointment and shame. A widow, she spends much of her time and energy fretting over her pregnant daughter, Dinaz, a kind-hearted, 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 20 years, cleaning furniture she is forbidden to sit on, washing glasses from which she is forbidden to drink. 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. Yet a crisis will test the ties that have united Sera and Bhima - the pain, loneliness and, love and hope - and force them to reconcile their true loyalties. Poignant and compelling, evocative and unforgettable, The Space Between is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. First published 2005.