The epic, million-copy selling novel of a fugitive's transformation in India

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

So begins this epic, mesmerizing novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees a maximum-security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and exiles seeking what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums and serving an apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. His path leads him through war, prison torture, murder, and bloody betrayals.

The keys to Lin's fate are held by two people: Khader Khan, a mafia godfather and criminal-philosopher-saint, and Karla, an elusive, dangerous beauty driven by tormenting secrets.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas-this sweeping novel reaches across the entire spectrum of human experience. Based on the extraordinary life of the author, Shantaram is a passionate, unforgettable love letter to India.