the undomestic goddess

sophie kinsella just veered away from becky bloomwood's world of sandals, bags and astronomical credit card bills. in "the undomestic goddess", we are teleported to a new scenario, one of constant deadlines and of days divided into neat six-minute chunks. we get a glimpse of it through the eyes of samantha sweeting, a top city lawyer whose current life has nearly driven her past the border of sanity and into insanity.

she rides a train to escape her pressure-filled london life, and finds herself in an unfamiliar place in the country. she knocks at a door, meaning to ask for a glass of water and a place to stay for the night. just minutes later, she is seated in front of a couple, answering interview questions for a housekeeper position.

enough of the synopsis. what struck me in the book was this excerpt, where trish talks to samantha, now her housekeeper:

"Here we are..." Trish puts a cup of tea down and scrutinizes me. "Are you homesick?" She sounds triumphant, as though she may have cracked the mystery. "Our girl from the Philippines did get rather blue from time to time...but I used to say to her, cheer up, Manuela!" Trish pauses thoughtfully. "Then I found out her name was Paula. Extraordinary."

it seems that despite the large number of filipinas who hold professional and technical positions in countless parts of the globe, we could still not escape the brand of being domestic helpers. so much for our gains in education and culture. makes me suddenly wish that i did not shell out 315 bucks to buy the book.