A powerful and touching novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Pigeon English `A writer of considerable talent` Financial Times I was beating the life out of Bibhuti with a baseball bat when my first monsoon broke...John Lock has come to India to meet his destiny. He has fled the quiet desperation of his life in England to offer his help to a man who has learned to conquer pain, a world record breaker who specialises in feats of extreme endurance and ill-advised masochism. In answering Bibhuti`s call for assistance, John hopes to rewrite a brave end to a life poorly lived. But as they take their leap of faith together, and John is welcomed into Bibhuti`s family, and into the colour and chaos of Mumbai, he learns more about life, and death, and everything in between than he could ever have bargained for.