The Bellboy

At the age of sixteen Anees dropped out of school and left home to become a writer. He travelled across India and worked as a bellboy waiter shop assistant and ghost writer before joining advertising. He currently works as a Creative Director with FCB India. His published works include <i>Vanity Bagh</i> (winner of The Hindu Literary Prize for Best Fiction 2013) <i>The Blind Lady's Descendants </i>(winner of the Raymond Crossword Book Award for Best Fiction 2014 and the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award 2018) <i>The Small-town Sea</i> (winner of the Atta Galatta-Banaglore Literature Festival Book Prize for Best Fiction 2017) and <i>The Odd Book of Baby Names</i>. His works have been translated into French German and several Indian languages. <p>Latif's life changes when he is appointed bellboy at the Paradise Lodge - a hotel where people come to die. <br><br>After his father's death drowned in the waters surrounding their small Island it is 17 year-old Latif's turn to become the man of the house and provide for his ailing mother and sisters. Despite discovering a dead body on his first day of duty Latif finds entertainment spying on guests and regaling the hotel's janitor Stella with made-up stories. However when Latif finds the corpse of a small-time actor in Room 555 and becomes a mute-witness to a crime that happens there the course of Latif's life is irretrievably altered. <br><br><i>The Bellboy</i> is as much a commentary on how society treats and victimizes the intellectually vulnerable as it is about the quiet resentment brewing against religious minorities in India today. With a mix of wry humour and heart-wrenching poignancy the book narrates a young boy's coming-of-age on a small island and his innocence that persists even in the face of adversity and inevitable tragedy.</p>