Serious Men by Manu Joseph

Smart and funny’ – The New York Times ‘ The writing is exuberant’ – Times Literary Supplement All a man really wants is to be greater than his friends. Such is the belief of Ayyan Mani, who spends his time dreaming up ways to elevate himself above the banality of everyday life in the Mumbai chawls. But this time he’s hit the jackpot with a ruse so brilliant, it can’t possibly fail. All it needs is a little subterfuge and a willing partner-in-crime in the form of his eleven-year-old son, who is a genius. At least that’s what his teachers think. But father and son might have gone a step too far, as they set in motion a chain of extraordinary events they are unable to stop … Manu Joseph’s razor-sharp wit and archly comic observations combine in this seriously unputdownable debut.