In Vikram Chandra's astonishing first novel, the gods Hanuman, Ganesha and Yama descend on a house in an Indian city to vie for the soul of a wounded monkey. A bargain is struck: the monkey must tell a story, and if he can keep his audience entertained, he shall live.The result is Red Earth and Pouring Rain, a tale of nineteenth century India: of Sanjay, a poet, and Sikander, a warrior; of hoofbeats thundering through the streets of Calcutta and the birth of a luminous child; of great wars and love affairs and a city gone 'mad with poetry'. And woven into this tapestry of stories is a second, totally modern narrative, the adventures of a young Indian criss-crossing America in a car with his friends and his eventual return to his homeland.

Vikram Chandra's first novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book and the David Higham Prize. His collection of short stories, Love and Longing in Bombay, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (Eurasia Region). Sacred Games was awarded the Hutch Crossword Award for English Fiction and the Salon Book Award. His latest book is Mirrored Mind: My Life in Letters and Code, a non-fiction New York Times Editor's Choice selection. Chandra is a recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship, and his work has been translated into nineteen languages.