Shantaram

Lin escapes from a maximum-security prison in Australia to the bustling streets of Mumbai.

Accompanied by Prabaker, his guide and friend, he joins a society of beggars and mobsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors; they seek in this extraordinary city what they cannot find anywhere else.

A fugitive, without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and purpose while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, and learns the dark arts of the Mumbai mafia. His quest leads him to war, prison, torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. Two people hold the keys capable of unlocking the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin. One is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and Lin's mentor in the underworld of the Golden City. The other is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and, simultaneously, grant her a terrible power.

Burning ghettos and five-star hotels, love, prison, wars, crimes, and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas – Shantaram reaches the world of human experience, and at its core has an intense love for India. Based on the author's life, the work is the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.