Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous - by Manu Joseph (Paperback)

About the Book

New novel from award-winning author of Serious Men (Norton, 2010) and The Illicit Happiness of Other People (Norton, 2012) is a portrait of contemporary India and page-turning political thriller.

Book Synopsis

Bold, stylish and deceptively witty, this gripping new novel by Manu Joseph poses searching questions about political forces and religious division--with an ingenious twist. On the day that Hindu nationalists and their controversial leader have won a spectacular election victory, a large apartment building collapses in Mumbai. The rescue operation finds a single survivor trapped under a beam. The only person able to reach him is Akhila Iyer, a medical student who is also a notorious prankster. Crawling through the rubble to administer first aid, she finds him mumbling in delirium that a young Muslim couple are on their way to carry out a terror attack. Elsewhere, an intelligence agent, Mukundan, is assigned to shadow two terror suspects, one of whom is the teenager Laila, sweetheart of her street. Time is running out and the chase is on... Pervasive in its comic realism, wicked in its humour and broad-based in its canvas, Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous is a fierce, profound and illuminating portrait of our age of globalisation and populist politics.

Review Quotes

'Caustic, comic and determinedly controversial. And there's a thriller lurking beneath too...' - The Observer

'The plot twist is so axing and hits you out of nowhere and just leaves you so shocked... This book is a must-read for all looking to read a good thriller.' - Bookclub for Two 8/10 review, Bookstagrammer

'Another winner from the acclaimed Indian author.' - Booklist

'Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous is a thoughtful, well-conceived novel, with characters of surprising depth, even where they seem almost simply sketched, presenting a society and a political culture so crushingly overwhelming (like that natural disaster that easily brings down the building at the start of the novel ...) that the individual can seem completely helpless to act. But Joseph's characters do act, and act out... It is a somewhat bleak novel, but also a surprising hopeful one -- and not just in its final, distant promise.' - Complete Review

'With thrills and social criticism, Manu Joseph creates a political masterpiece.' - Disclaimer Magazine

'Absolutely nothing escapes the sharp wit of Manu Joseph in this intelligent and entertaining thriller. Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous is jam-packed with ideas and reads as smoothly as the best page-turners do. The writing is beautiful, insightful and elegant. This is a truly original and important novel. One that is also an awful lot of fun to read.' - Nudge

'Laila is a wonderful creation. She is spirited, clever, funny, industrious... This is Manu Joseph's most all-encompassing novel yet, a startlingly angry portrait of contemporary India... [It is] a romping satirical thriller that recognises no sacred cows but scorches a path through the corridors of political power.' - Mariella Frostrup on BBC Radio 4 'Open Book'

'It has the breathless pace of a Hollywood car chase, dry, clever humour worthy of Aaron Sorkin, and the heavy heart and soul of Márquez. A thrilling novelistic entry point to the hierarchies, power-plays, comedies and tragedies of contemporary India.' - The Big Issue

'The finest comic novelists know that a small world can illuminate culture and an age... Manu Joseph does just that.' - Boyd Tonkin