ALife of Adventure and Delight

Akhil Sharma was born in Delhi in India and emigrated to the USA in 1979. His stories have been published in the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly, and included in The Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize collections. His first book, An Obedient Father, won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in 2001. He was named one of Granta's 'Best of Young American Novelists' in 2007. His second novel, Family Life, won the Folio Prize in 2015 and the International Dublin Literary Award in 2016. Sharma teaches at Rutgers University-Newark.A young woman in an arranged marriage awakens one day surprised to find herself in love with her husband. A retired divorcé tries to become the perfect partner by reading women's magazines. A man's longstanding contempt for his cousin suddenly shifts inward when he witnesses his cousin caring for a sick woman. The protagonists in this tender and darkly comic collection deceive themselves and engage in odd behaviours as they navigate how to be good, how to make meaningful relationships, and the strengths and pitfalls of self-interest. From a dazzlingly original, critically acclaimed writer, these stories, elegantly written and emotionally immediate, provide an intimate, honest assessment of human relationships between mothers and sons, sons and lovers, husband and wives.