Shantaram

Set mostly in the Bombay of the 1980s, Gregory David Roberts's novel is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict who fled a maximum security prison in Australia and arrives on a false passport. Meaning only to pass through, he stays, hiring a local guide named Prabaker who soon becomes a close friend. Through Prabaker he enters a hidden Bombay of beggars, gangsters, holy men, actors and foreign exiles, and he meets Karla, an elusive woman driven by secrets. It draws on Roberts's own escape, though some of his claims are disputed.

Richard Branson included it on his list of 65 books to read in a lifetime, and author Josh Waitzkin called it one of the most beautiful novels he has come across.