A major international debut from a storyteller who couples a timelessly beguiling style to an energetically modern worldscape. A cluster of passengers are stranded overnight in an airport en route to Tokyo, and they tell each other stories to enliven the waiting hours, stories that mesmerize, stories that resonate. Dasgupta's writing is utterly distinctive and fresh, so striking that it seems to come from the future and the past all at once, but in marrying a timeless mystery to an alert modernity, his cautionary tales manage to be reminiscent of both Ballard and Borges, depicting ordinary extraordinary individuals (some lost, some confused, some happy) in a world that remains ineffable, inexplicable, wonderful. This is a startling debut, certain to cause quite an impact, and surely the beginning of a significant literary career.

rana dasgupta grew up in Cambridge, England. He worked for a marketing consultancy in London and New York for a few years before moving to Delhi to write. He lives there still.