Illicit Happiness of Other People

Manu Joseph is a columnist with the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of the New York Times. This is his second novel. His first darkly comic novel, Serious Men, won the Hindu Best Fiction Award 2010 and was one of Huffington Post's 10 best books of 2010. It was also winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize and shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.

'Quite an achievement' -- The Economist 'There's plenty to enjoy ... the key revelations are powerful, as a final twist transforms the novel from an offbeat romp to a melancholy take on the age-old story of adolescent desire and its frustrations' -- Metro 'Both wittily funny and darkly serious' -- Daily Mail 'Joseph's prose is exquisitely phrased without an excess of sentimentality...the confident, immersing voice of ILLICIT HAPPINESS promises readers this is not the last we've heard of Manu Jospeh' -- Daily Telegraph 'A refreshing read' -- Time Out Praise for Serious Men: Manu Joseph's first novel elegantly describes collisions with an unyielding status quo, ably counterpointing the frustrations of the powerless with the unfulfilling realities of power. With this astute comedy of manners he makes a convincing bid for his own recognition as a novelist of serious talent, the latest addition to a roster of Indian writers who are creating fine literary art from their country's fearsome contradictions -- Peter Carty, Independent Manu Joseph's satirical tale of an ostensibly new India still in thrall to its caste-ridden and sexist traditions is so much more than a mere comic caper ... Sophisticated entertainment -- Catherine Taylor, Guardian The finest comic novelists know that a small world can illuminate a culture and an age...with this sad-funny debut Joseph does just that -- Boyd Tonkin, Books to light up lazy days, Independent He has written a debut novel that skewers a society where new ambitions and older class divisions co-exist. From the contrasts of contemporary India, he extracts pointed, often bitter comedy -- Sunday Times The writing is exuberant -- TLS Joseph's portrait of these fascinating, flawed human beings is smartly written and consistently entertaining -- Irish Times

'Both wittily funny and darkly serious' -- Daily Mail Praise for Serious Men:Manu Joseph's first novel elegantly describes collisions with an unyielding status quo, ably counterpointing the frustrations of the powerless with the unfulfilling realities of power. With this astute comedy of manners he makes a convincing bid for his own recognition as a novelist of serious talent, the latest addition to a roster of Indian writers who are creating fine literary art from their country's fearsome contradictions -- Peter Carty, Independent Manu Joseph's satirical tale of an ostensibly new India still in thrall to its caste-ridden and sexist traditions is so much more than a mere comic caper ... Sophisticated entertainment -- Catherine Taylor, Guardian The finest comic novelists know that a small world can illuminate a culture and an age...with this sad-funny debut Joseph does just that -- Boyd Tonkin, Books to light up lazy days, Independent He has written a debut novel that skewers a society where new ambitions and older class divisions co-exist. From the contrasts of contemporary India, he extracts pointed, often bitter comedy -- Sunday Times The writing is exuberant -- TLS

'Both wittily funny and darkly serious' -- Daily Mail 'Joseph's prose is exquisitely phrased without an excess of sentimentality...the confident, immersing voice of ILLICIT HAPPINESS promises readers this is not the last we've heard of Manu Jospeh' -- Daily Telegraph 20120908 'A refreshing read' -- Time Out 20120908 'There's plenty to enjoy ... the key revelations are powerful, as a final twist transforms the novel from an offbeat romp to a melancholy take on the age-old story of adolescent desire and its frustrations' -- Metro 20120908 Praise for Serious Men:Manu Joseph's first novel elegantly describes collisions with an unyielding status quo, ably counterpointing the frustrations of the powerless with the unfulfilling realities of power. With this astute comedy of manners he makes a convincing bid for his own recognition as a novelist of serious talent, the latest addition to a roster of Indian writers who are creating fine literary art from their country's fearsome contradictions -- Peter Carty, Independent 20120908 Manu Joseph's satirical tale of an ostensibly new India still in thrall to its caste-ridden and sexist traditions is so much more than a mere comic caper ... Sophisticated entertainment -- Catherine Taylor, Guardian 20120908 The finest comic novelists know that a small world can illuminate a culture and an age...with this sad-funny debut Joseph does just that -- Boyd Tonkin, Books to light up lazy days, Independent 20120908 He has written a debut novel that skewers a society where new ambitions and older class divisions co-exist. From the contrasts of contemporary India, he extracts pointed, often bitter comedy -- Sunday Times 20120908 The writing is exuberant -- TLS 20120908