Harper Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous by Manu Joseph

• A building collapses in Mumbai. In the debris is a man who is mumbling something in delirium. It appears that he is passing on the real-time movements of a young Muslim couple. Elsewhere, a young intelligence agent is assigned to shadow two terror suspects, one of whom is a teenager and the sweetheart of her street, Laila.
• Taking up a slice of recent history, the novel glares at the entire system - not just politicians, the bureaucracy, the police and lackeys, but also the good folks. Pervasive in its satire, wicked in its humour and broad-based in its canvas, Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous is one of the most stylish and honest works of fiction about India ever written.

About the Author:

Manu Joseph is one of the finestauthors writing in English in Indiatoday. His previous books, SeriousMen and The Illicit Happiness ofOther People, publishedbyHarperCollins India, pushed theenvelope in the genre of literaryfiction in terms of both structure andcontent, garnered rave reviews, andwon and were nominated for severalnational and international awards.