India

Juliette said, "For India, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is a powerful, dynamic and fast moving work of fiction based upon a true life experience. Like many of the books we will come up with it reflects the country in a variety of lights."

A young Australian man bearing a false New Zealand passport gives his name as "Lindsay" and flies to Bombay some time in the early '80s. On his first day there, Lindsay meets the two people who will largely influence his fate in the city. One is a young tour guide, Prabaker, whose gifts include a large smile and an unstoppably joyful heart. Through Prabaker, Lindsay gets to know village India and settles, for a time, in a vast shantytown, operating an illicit free clinic. The second person he meets is Karla, a beautiful Swiss-American woman with sea-green eyes and a circle of expatriate friends. Lin's love for Karla — and her mysterious inability to love in return — gives the book its central tension.

But 944 pages!? Wow, this is a REAL chunkster!