Thrity Umrigar

Thrity Umrigar

India

About

Thrity Umrigar is an Indian-American novelist, journalist, and professor born in Bombay, now Mumbai, in 1961. She grew up in a Parsi family and moved to the United States at the age of 21. Her experiences of migration and cultural displacement have strongly influenced her writing, which frequently explores class, gender, identity, and the complexities of belonging. Umrigar earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Bombay before completing graduate studies in journalism and English at Ohio State University and Kent State University. Before becoming a full-time academic and novelist, she worked as a journalist for publications including The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Her novels include The Space Between Us (2006), The Weight of Heaven (2009), The World We Found (2012), The Story Hour (2014), and Honor (2022). Her work often examines the lives of women navigating social hierarchies, family expectations, and cultural change. She is a professor of English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she teaches creative writing and literature.

Books on TheBookRoads

1
The Space Between Us (#1 Between Us)
The Space Between Us (#1 Between Us)
In Mumbai, the lives of two women from vastly different social worlds become intertwined through a relationship shaped by affection, dependence, and inequality. Bhima, an impoverished domestic worker, has spent decades serving Sera Dubash, a middle-class Parsi woman living in relative comfort. Both women have endured painful marriages and personal tragedies, yet the privileges available to Sera remain far beyond Bhima’s reach. When Bhima’s granddaughter Maya becomes pregnant outside marriage, the fragile balance between the two households is threatened, exposing the prejudices and unspoken rules that govern their relationship. As secrets emerge and loyalties are tested, the women must confront the boundaries imposed by class, gender, and social expectations. Set against the vivid backdrop of contemporary Mumbai, The Space Between Us is a moving exploration of female friendship, domestic labour, and the unequal ways society distributes dignity and opportunity.
2006 India
2
Honor
Honor
Indian American journalist Smita returns to India to report on a disturbing case involving Meena, a Hindu woman who has been brutally attacked by her own family for marrying Abdul, a Muslim man. As Smita investigates the violence committed in the name of family honour, she encounters a society where religious divisions, patriarchal traditions, and social expectations can override individual freedom. While trying to help Meena, Smita also confronts painful memories of her own past and develops an unexpected connection with Mohan, an Indian man whose presence challenges her carefully constructed emotional distance. Through the intersecting lives of these women, Thrity Umrigar explores the cost of defying tradition, the meaning of belonging, and the courage required to live according to one’s convictions. Honor is a moving novel about love, religious intolerance, and the struggle for women’s autonomy in a deeply divided society.
2022 India