The cover review on this novel by Margaret Foster says "I read it at a gallop desperate to discover what had happened" and this is inevitable when you pick up this novel focusing on relationships between women set in Sri Lanka.
Although the main focus is on an employer and her employee, the parallel narrative of a mother and her children compels the reader forward. As this family travels by train, the reader chugs, speeds and grinds along with them, feeling every step of their precarious journey.
It is also interesting that while the novel may be interpreted as a critique of the relationship that exists between mistress and servant, it is also a commentary on so many different levels of relationships between women - including friends, mothers and daughters, wives and mistresses, caregivers and those within their care.
And it is a heartbreaking reminder of how very important such little things can be to those who have absolutely nothing; a stick of chewing gum, an offered seat, a kind smile, a pair of sandals. What kind of a difference people are making in each others' lives every day - contributing tragedy or salvation.
This is a wonderfully thought-provoking read.
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