The City of Devi

A dystopia like no other, Manil Suri paints a vibrant portrait of an India on the brink of collapse, two figures travelling across the unknown in a world scarily close to the modern day.

Mumbai has emptied under the threat of imminent nuclear annihilation, gangs of marauding Hindu and Muslim thugs rove the desolate, bombed-out streets, and yet Sarita can only think of one thing: buying the last pomegranate that remains in perhaps the entire city. She is convinced the fruit holds the key to reuniting with her physicist husband Karun, who has been mysteriously missing for over a fortnight.

Embarking on her quest for Karun, she is soon joined by Jaz - cocky, handsome, glib, and in search of his own lover. "The Jazter," as he calls himself, is a Muslim, but his true religion has steadfastly and unapologetically been sex with men. Their journey plunges them into a uniquely Indian dystopia rife with absurdity - from the starving aquarium guard who seems to have eaten most of his fish, to a group of telemarketers welcoming the bomb with an end-of-the-world party, all under the pervasive influence of the Bollywood megahit Superdevi, which some blame for sparking the religious fanaticism that has brought the country to its knees.

As Sarita and Jaz travel through this surreal landscape, they are inexorably drawn, like thousands of others, to the real-life incarnation fusing myth and movie - the patron goddess Devi ma, who has reputedly materialised in person to save her city.

Wickedly satirical, fearlessly provocative and disturbingly possible, The City of Devi upsets assumptions of politics, religion and sex in India, while exuberantly sending up the country's reputation as a rising global superpower. Groundbreaking and multilayered, this compelling tale of sexual consciousness and of individuals balancing on the sharp edge of fate demonstrates that, in the fallout of our mass media world, we are left seeking the presence of those we love the most.

About the Author

Manil Suri was born in Bombay in 1959 and is a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He has written two novels, The Death of Vishnu and The Age of Shiva. His fiction has been translated into twenty-seven languages, longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the PEN Faulkner, LA Times, PEN Hemingway and W H Smith Awards, and has won the McKittrick and the Barnes and Noble Discover prizes. He was named by Time Magazine as a 'Person to Watch' in 2000. He lives in Maryland, USA.