“It isn't the words we speak that make us who we are. Or even the deeds we do. It is the secrets buried in our hearts.”
oor and illiterate, Bhima had faithfully worked for the Dubash family, an upper-middle-class Parsi household, for more than twenty years. Yet after courageously speaking the truth about a heinous crime perpetrated against her own family, the devoted servant was cruelly fired. The sting of that dismissal was even more painful coming from Sera Dubash, the temperamental employer who had long been Bhima's only confidante. A woman who has endured despair and loss with stoicism, Bhima must now find some other way to support herself and her granddaughter, Maya.
Bhima's fortunes take an unexpected turn when her path intersects with Parvati, a bitter, taciturn older woman. The two acquaintances soon form a tentative business partnership, selling fruits and vegetables at the local market. As they work together, these two women seemingly bound by fate grow closer, confessing to each other the truth about their lives and the wounds that still haunt them. Discovering her first true friend, Bhima weaves a new life, and together the two women learn to stand on their own.
A dazzling story of gender, strength, friendship, and second chances, The Secrets Between Us is a powerful and perceptive novel that brilliantly evokes the complexities of life in modern India and the harsh realities faced by women born without privilege as they struggle to survive.
About the Author
Thrity Umrigar is the author of seven novels - Everybody's Son, The Story Hour, The World We Found, The Weight of Heaven, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, and Bombay Time - and the memoir First Darling of the Morning. A journalist for almost twenty years, she is the winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard and 2006 finalist for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award.
An associate professor of English at Case Western Reserve University, Umrigar lives in Cleveland.
Industry Reviews
"The women at the heart of this novel inhabit the harsh world of the urban Indian poor, and struggle separately and together for dignity and survival. Thrity Umrigar has written a moving human tale that vividly brings to life both the women and the city of Mumbai." -- Salman Rushdie
"This wonderful novel... is the rich, moving story of an amazing friendship... The lives of Bhima and Parvati are ones of unbelievable poverty and struggle, but the dignity and richness their friendship manifests took my breath away." -- Indies Choice Audiobook of the Year Finalist
"Umrigar's writing is vivid and elegant in its specificity, and the story is as resilient as its characters." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune
"[The Secrets Between Us] provides an almost "Siddhartha"-esque experience of sharing a character's spiritual journey, as the plot takes Bhima and Parvati to places where they must question their preconceptions, search their souls and ultimately change." -- Newsday
"[Umrigar's] 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." -- Publishers Weekly
"The Secrets Between Us is one of those books I want to shout about from the rooftops... [for] everyone to experience the depth and beauty of the author's writing." -- All About Romance
"[W]onderful.... [Umrigar] knocked it out of the park with this one. Her writing is beautifully descriptive and her characters are absolutely fabulous." -- BermudaOnion's Weblog
