‘Anappara creates an endearing and highly engaging narrator to navigate us through the dark underbelly of modern India’ Observer

We children are not just stories. We live. Come and see.

Nine-year-old Jai watches too many reality cop shows, thinks he’s smarter than his friend Pari (even though she always gets top marks) and considers himself to be a better boss than Faiz (even though Faiz is the one with a job).

When a boy at school goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from episodes of Police Patrol to find him. With Pari and Faiz by his side, Jai ventures into some of the most dangerous parts of the sprawling Indian city; the bazaar at night, and even the railway station at the end of the Purple Line. But kids continue to vanish, and the trio must confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force and soul-snatching djinns in order to uncover the truth.

‘A heartrending tale’ The Times


‘A drama of childhood that is as wild as it is intimate’ Chigozie Obioma, Booker Prize shortlisted author of An Orchestra of Minorities

‘Extraordinarily good, deeply moving and thought provoking with brilliant characterisation. A very important book’ Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of Blood Orange

‘Extraordinary... moving and unpredictable... remarkable’ Washington Post

**One of the Observer’s 10 best debut novelists of 2020**