The Sly Company of People Who Care

Book excerpt: When a young Indian journalist quits his job to take a year off in Guyana, he discovers a country of epic indolence, lush rainforests and an array of characters . Among the motley crowd of seasoned rogues, Samaritans and ideologues, people trying to escape or accept their colonial legacies, he falls for Jan, a girl who transports him to a new place—within himself and in the world. Acute and lyrical, this brilliant first novel is one of the finest literary achievements to come out of the subcontinent in the last decade.