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Update: Happy Publication Date today, March 26, 2019

Professor P. R. Chandrasekhar has been leading the kind of life he prescribed for himself 45 years earlier when he left India at the age of 24. With a few alterations. He is 69 years old and although he is Professor Emeritus in Economics at a college in Oxford, the big prize, the one he has worked so hard for, has been elusive. His marriage fell apart a few years before when his wife left him for another man. They, and the Professor’s youngest daughter Jaz (Jasmine) live in Colorado which makes it difficult for regular physical contact.

His ex-wife calls him Charles, most people call him Chandra (or Professor Chandra), and sometimes Chandu. Chandra’s son, Sunny (Sunil) is in Hong Kong doing some kind of business seminars, and what’s worse, he is very successful at it and doesn’t hesitate to let his father know. Chandra is estranged from his eldest daughter, Rad (Radha), and with Jasmine so far away, Chandra assesses his life and finds it wanting. He works harder and believes that if he can reach his goal of ultimate success, the rest of his life will fall into place as well.

Then, he is in an accident. With a bicycle. He ends up in hospital because he also had a “silent�� heart attack. His doctor is American and lets him know quite firmly that he is not to return to work for several months. He advises him to take a sabbatical, and cheerily suggests he “follow his bliss��.

This story has humour in it but it definitely isn’t comic. The humour is often dry �� the kind where you blink and you might miss it, but you have a grin on your face anyway. It is also witty, and sometimes I could envision a winking emoji lurking somewhere in there.

For me, this novel is first and foremost about an older professional man who has an epiphany of sorts and begins to look at his life, and himself, with lenses that seem to be a stronger prescription than before.

His epiphany isn’t like a big light bulb going on over his head. It is more like a faulty set of Christmas lights with miniature bulbs that light up in a pattern �� only the pattern seems to keep changing. The adventures that Chandra experiences in pursuit of the faulty little bulb (or bulbs) in the light string results in one of the most entertaining and engaging books I have read.

The author, Rajeev Balasubramanyam, is a hugely talented writer. To write about someone who is at a crossroad of crises in their life is not an easy undertaking. To do so with compassion, humour, deep insight, knowledge and wisdom is a glorious accomplishment.

With gratitude to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this novel. Its publication date is March 26, 2019.