Police Sub-Inspector (retired) R.M. Swaminathan has suffered a stroke while beating up a Very Guilty Suspect in the lock-up of Mullaipuram Police Station. He can no longer talk properly, command the respect of his community, or give his six daughters the bankrupting dowries they deserve. Is it any wonder that Swami has lost his pride and wants to kill himself using only a puncture-repair kit? Surely a man in these circumstances has good reason to feel cursed when a white man falls out of the sky, dying at his feet and making him a laughing stock. But as further strange incidents occur, Swami’s hometown starts to believe he is walking with God, and life changes for ever…
Mike Stocks’s tale of domestic catastrophe, accidental crime-busting, deluded matchmaking and mystical absurdity brilliantly exemplifies how sometimes in life meaningless events can produce meaningful effects.
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'White Man Falling is that rare and wondrous thing - a perfectly realized serious comic novel. That it is also a first novel makes it all the more extraordinary.'
Sarah Dunant
'It is the precision and originality of Mike Stocks's prose that makes this tragicomedy of Indian manners hard to put down and a joy to pick up.'
Mark Amory, The Spectator
'A warm-hearted comedy… Stocks’s poetic background… manifests itself in beautiful turns of phrase… and in the interweaving of Indian English throughout the text. There is a vogue in contemporary fiction for leaping between characters and timeframes like a flea seeking a tasty host. White Man Falling is a reminder that a single location and perspective, and linear chronology, can be deeply satisfying.'
The Times
'The writing is witty and engaging... an entertaining read, with all the ingredients of a comedy of errors - confusion, deluded matchmaking, mystical absurdity. There are underlying metaphors, but the book is essentially a satire of the search for meaning in the meaningless.'
The New Statesman
'A witty and occasionally lyrical novel.'
The Melbourne Age
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Read an excerpt from
White Man Falling
Visit
Mike Stocks' website and blog at
www.mikestocks.com
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