I first read Honor also by Thrity Umrigar and was moved so much by the characters, story amd writing that I looked for more of her books.

This is the second of her books that I'm reading. While the story isn't as devastating and emotional as Honor, it also centers around class differences and strong female characters in India. 

I find the writing compelling and almost poetic at times in its description of the characters, their experiences, reactions and inner thoughts. It is easy to empathize with the main characters because their struggles, sorrows, and joys are described so vividly. 

The book centers on the relationship between a Hindu house servant and her mistress a Parsi (Indian of Persian ancestry) upper middle class housewife. One lives in luxury and the other in a slum, but their lives have been intertwined for 2 decades and they've lived through each other's marital struggles, health and family issues. The story develops race and social class differences and struggles, power versus poverty, domestic violence, rape, sexism, labor exploitation.

I hadn't realized there is a sequel to this novel which I am now looking to read to find out what the characters future is like.

I enjoy reading about women's stories from different backgrounds and cultures so this was a perfect book to satisfy that interest.