fiction-literary · Staff Pick

The Distance Between Us

By Amara Osei

Two married colleagues fall in love at work — both trapped in unhappy marriages. Set across Mumbai, Singapore, and London, this novel traces the arc of an affair between Meera Kapoor, an Indian strategy consultant, and James Whitfield, a British managing director, as they move between cities and between the lives they have and the lives they want. Told in alternating perspectives, The Distance Between Us explores guilt, desire, the lies we tell ourselves, and whether happiness is something you find or something you build. The ending is honest, not happy.