Serious Men

• Set in Mumbai, the novel combines social satire with a story of family ambition. Ayyan creates a fictional image of his young son as a scientific prodigy, while his employer, astronomer Arvind Acharya, becomes involved in his own professional controversy.

• Manu Joseph is an Indian journalist, novelist and writer. Serious Men was his debut novel and received the Hindu Literary Prize and PEN Open Book Award

Ayyan Mani, frustrated by his limited social and professional opportunities, invents an extraordinary story about his son’s intelligence. What begins as a private scheme grows into a larger public deception, intersecting with scientific controversy and workplace politics. The novel examines class, ambition, social inequality, family relationships and