Recently widowed Tehmina Sethna has a big decision to make. Should she remain in India, clinging to her past, or vote for the future and go live with her son in America? With an eight-city tour; reading group guide. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Umrigar's latest (The Space Between Us, 2006, etc.) offers a tender portrait of a Bombay widow and her Americanized son, and the culture clash that ensues. Tehmina Sethna has been emotionally adrift since her beloved, charismatic husband Rustom died. She was hoping to find some solace with her only child Sorab in Cleveland, but the long bleak winter and Sorab's disapproving wife Susan has made the stay awkward at best. Sorab and Susan have invited Tehmina to leave Bombay for good, move in with them and start life anew, but there seems little on offer in America but bland opulence. Though her family is in America (including seven-year-old grandson Cavas) and Tehmina has a good friend in the spirited Eva Metzembaum, the lure of India and the memories she shared there with Rustom may prove more powerful than the ties of family. Umrigar shifts nicely between Tehmina and her son Sorab, who's having problems of his own: In India there would be little question about Tehmina moving in with the family, but can the same deference be expected of an American wife? Acutely aware of Susan's subtle complaints about Tehmina (she doesn't rinse out the tub after each use, she's too emotional about her dead husband), Sorab finds he's becoming slightly afraid of his wife's thin-lipped grimace. Furthermore, while his wife is suggesting they buy a larger house if Tehmina decides to stay, Sorab's awful new boss is hinting his position is in jeopardy. Though Sorab and his Indian friends make for a vivid picture of assimilated life in the American Midwest, the story belongs to Tehmina, who must very soon make a decision about returning to Bombay (and all the vibrancy it represents) or staying with her remaining family. Though the ghost of Rustom is advising her, it is Sorab's next-door neighbor who inadvertently helps Tehmina with her decision--a mother who is abusing her two young sons spurs Tehmina into action, helping her become the robust, independent woman she was before her husband's death. Though less expansive than her last novel, Umrigar's intimate portrayal of a mother and son divided by culture is a convincing testament to the enduring power of place. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

At the opening of Umrigar's poignant new novel (after The Space between Us, 2006), Tehmina, a middle-aged widow from India, is visiting her 38-year-old son, Sorab, his American wife, and son at their home in Ohio. (Sorab left his native India for graduate school in the U.S. and has lived there ever since.) Heartbroken by the death of her beloved husband, Tehmina is hardly in a position to face the life-altering choice before her: to settle in with Sorab in the safe, antiseptic Midwest or to live out her days in earthy, chaotic Bombay. Tehmina must make up her mind soon: her tourist visa is about to expire, and the lack of privacy in their home is putting stress on her son and daughter-in-law. Meanwhile, Tehmina's quiet, private life becomes very public when she rescues two neighborhood children from domestic abuse. Umrigar renders a sublime, cross-cultural tale about lives driven by tradition and transformed by love.--Block, Allison Copyright 2007 Booklist

In Umrigar's tender fourth novel, Tehmina "Tammy" Sethna is torn between two cultures that couldn't be more different: Bombay and Cleveland. The former is her homeland, but after her husband's recent death, she's been staying with her son and his family in America. Tehmina loves being near grandson Cookie, but she often feels like an intruder in her American daughter-in-law's home, and she's disconcerted by the changes in her son, Sorab, who is stressed from the corporate rat race. Though Tehmina's loneliness floods her with memories of her husband, the Parsi community back in India and her traditional ways, she finds no small amount of purpose (and celebrity) in Cleveland after suspecting her neighbor of child abuse and intervening on the children's behalf. Immigration laws, meanwhile, force her to decide whether she'll remain in Cleveland or return to Bombay. Umrigar (The Space Between Us) shows the unseemly side of American excess and prejudice while gently reminding readers of opportunities sometimes taken for granted. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved