A great slant on the phenomenon of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" with a young boy from the streets of India winning a million rupees, only to be thrown in jail as a fraudster. However, there is no coughing coming from the audience to help him, Ram is just a boy who soaks up and enjoys life and as he takes us through how he knew the answers to the questions we are given a funny, thoughtful and energetic portrait of life in modern India. A real joy to read, totally uplifting.

Synopsis

Former tiffinboy Ram Mohammad Thomas has just got twelve questions correct on a TV quiz-show to win a cool one billion rupees. But he is brutally slung in prison on suspicion of cheating. Because how can a kid from the slums know who Shakespeare was, unless he is pulling a fast one.

In the order of the questions on the show, Ram tells us which amazing adventures in his street-kid life gave him the answers. From orphanages to brothels, gangsters to beggar-masters, and into the homes of Bollywood's rich and famous, Ram's story is brimming with the chaotic comedy, heart-stopping tragedy and tear-inducing joyousness of modern India.

Reviews

'Gloriously fantastical story of how an uneducated orphan came to answer every single question in the Bombay quiz show Who Will Win a Billion?...an endearingly moral novel'. The Times

'An inspired idea ...a broad and sympathetic humanity underpins this book.' Sunday Telegraph

‘This brilliant story, as colossal, vibrant and chaotic as India itself … is not to be missed.’
Observer

About the Author

Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and is currently Indian Deputy High Commissioner in South Africa. Rights to Q&A have been sold in over 35 countries. It is due to be made both into a stage musical and into a film, under the title SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE. He is at work on his next book. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation