The Secrets Between Us

Umrigar’s luminous sequel to The Space Between Us continues the story of Bhima, now bereft of her position as servant in the present-day Mumbai household of Serabai Dubash and desperate to find some way to support herself and her granddaughter, Maya. Dinaz, Serabai’s daughter, arrives and presents Bhima with a check for the decades of savings that have been in Serabai’s keeping; Bhima immediately decides to use the funds to pay for Maya’s college. While Bhima and Maya live in a hovel in Mumbai’s slum, Parvati, the novel’s other main character, sleeps in a doorway, scraping by on the small amounts of food she receives as charity. Chance circumstances bring the two women together to form a business partnership and they, Maya, and Bhima’s new employers, Sunitabai and Chitra, become like family to one another. The leads have suffered immensely in life—for them, “everything is an ambush”—and yet neither surrenders. Umrigar writes her characters so that, rather than being pitiable, they have an admirable strength. Her amazing cast is coupled with shining prose and a plot that consistently startles and gratifies. This splendid tale should appeal to all readers with open hearts, regardless of their familiarity with the previous work or the culture of Mumbai. (June)