Panther

An intimate tale of friendship and betrayal at a boarding school in war-torn Sri Lanka. 'A fresh and promising new voice on the literary landscape' - The New Indian Express I see you. Legs like toothpicks | body and face all ribs and cheekbones. And that hair. Come on | what is it? Like friggin' barbed wire. I see you with a hand-me-down cracked bat creaming a leather ball | in a sock | hanging from the branch of a mango tree. Being accepted into an elite international school on a cricket scholarship doesn't mean your life is going to change. Except it does | because hunky Indika - I for Indika | I for Incredible - takes you under his wing | drags you to posh restaurants and shows you pictures from glossy magazines of women who . . . well | never mind | that's not the point. The point is: if your best friend snogs your girlfriend | can he still be Incredible? Was he ever? But don't sweat the small stuff. There are cricket matches to win | examinations to pass | a horrifying past to forget | a sinister schoolmaster to avoid . . . and | of course | a first kiss to finally experience. Prabu's life is never going to be the same again. Funny | diamond-sharp and unapologetic | Panther is a novel about that familiar | fractured passage to adulthood that can make us magnificent if it does not kill us.