The Year of the Runaways tells of the bold dreams and daily struggles of an unli
kely family thrown together by circumstance. Thirteen young men live in a house
in Sheffield, each in flight from India and in desperate search of a new life. T
arlochan, a former rickshaw driver, will say nothing about his past in Bihar; an
d Avtar has a secret that binds him to protect the choatic Randeep.
Randeep,
in turn, has a visa-wife in a flat on the other side of town: a clever, devout w
oman whose cupboards are full of her husband's clothes, in case the immigration
men surprise her with a call. Sweeping between India and England, and between ch
ildhood and the present day, this generous, unforgettable novel is - as with Roh
inton Mistry's A Fine Balance - a story of dignity in the face of adversity and
the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.
