The One Who Wrote Destiny

Description

'A beautiful, brilliant modern classic.' - Guardian, Best Summer Books 2018 Mukesh has just moved from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley. He was expecting fame, fortune, the Rolling Stones and a nice girl, not poverty, loneliness and racism. Still, he might not have found Keith Richards, but he did find the girl. Neha is dying. Lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. The problem is, her brother is an unfunny comedian and her idiot father is a first-generation immigrant who moved to Keighley of all places. Rakesh is grieving. He lost his mother and his sister to the same illness, and his career as a comedian is flat-lining. Sure, his sister would have claimed that it was because he was simply unfunny, but he can't help feel that there is more to it than that - more to do with who he is and where he comes from rather than the content of his jokes. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After her daughter died, her useless son-in-law dumped them on her doorstep for a month and now she has to try and work out how to bond with two children who are used to England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...

Nikesh Shukla is a writer and social commentator. His debut novel, Coconut Unlimited, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2010 and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011, and his second novel, Meatspace, was critically acclaimed. He is the editor of the essay collection, The Good Immigrant, where 21 British writers of colour discuss race and immigration in the UK. @nikeshshukla

I loved it. It's wise and absorbing and the voices of all the characters are so incredibly distinct. A triumph. * Louise O'Neill, author of 'Almost Love and Asking For It' * Funny, profound and by far Shukla's most ambitious novel to date. * Alfred Hickling, Guardian * Fascinating, funny and thoughtful. * Bernardine Evaristo, Observer * A wise and moving novel about family, love and the people we're destined to be. * Stylist, 'April's best new books' * Intelligent, devastating and gorgeously entertaining, this is a novel that expresses its anger with just the right level of fun. * Financial Times * A funny, moving novel about what we inherit and what we create for ourselves. * Sunday Times, Best Summer Reads 2018 * Very funny but packs a hell of an emotional punch. It's an intimate epic, spanning continents and decades but rooted in the internal life of its characters. * Nish Kumar, stand-up comedian and actor * Written with such vitality that it lives beyond its ending. * i Magazine * A beautifully written and thought-provoking piece of work, which balances humour, anger and melancholy in a way that is charming and utterly engrossing. * The List * The novel captures the changing faces of racism with memorable vividness. * Sunday Times * Be utterly transported by this wonderfully written tale of family, immigration and family bonds. * Emerald Street * A beautiful, brilliant modern classic. * Sabrina Mahfouz, Guardian best summer reads 2018 * This is an epic tale... but it always feels intimate * Stylist * Funny and profound * Guardian *