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.
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.
'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
Author
About Vikas Swarup
Vikas Swarup is the author of the bestselling sensation Q&A, which was filmed as the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, and Six Suspects. His novels have been translated into more than forty languages. Vikas Swarup was a judge on 2011's Man Asian Literary Prize. Swarup currently works in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.
