The City of Devi

Armed only with a pomegranate, Sarita ventures into the empty streets of Mumbai, on the eve of its threatened nuclear annihilation. She is looking for her physicist husband Karun, who has been missing for over a fortnight. She is soon joined on her quest by Jaz - cocky, handsome, Muslim, gay, and in search of his own lover. Together they traverse the surreal landscape of a dystopia rife with absurdity, and are inexorably drawn to the patron goddess Devi ma, the supposed saviour of the city. Groundbreaking and multilayered, The City of Devi is a fearlessly provocative tale of three individuals balancing on the sharp edge of fate. “The City of Devi combines, in a magician's feat, the thrill of Bollywood with the pull of a thriller. Set in a city at the brink of the end, this is a fiercely imagined story of three souls haunted by a love that will change their most elemental ideas of identity. Manil Suri's bravest and most passionate book” – Kiran Desai “A stunning novel, proof that Manil Suri is a major storyteller of heart and intelligence ... this is a majestic story about love and its unexpected circumstances” – Amy Tan on The Age of Shiva “A man named Vishnu lies dying on the staircase of a Bombay apartment building ... Manil Suri has created an intimate and intricate portrait of life in this metropolis” – Vikram Chandra on The Death of Vishnu “A marvellous story ... it's spiritual, often very funny and filled with humanity” – Deborah Moggach, Daily Mail “Manil Suri has been likened to Narayan, Coetzee, Naipaul, Chekhov and Flaubert. But Suri has developed a voice of his own ... his eye for a story, his wit and astute observations of human folly, indicate that one day he may himself be someone to be compared to” – Independent “Exchanging sentimentality for a clear vision, Suri reveals an immense humanity ... Drawn by this compelling narrative, I read this marvellous book in one sitting” – Kiran Desai on The Age of Shiva