From the award-winning author of Marriage of a Thousand Lies comes a brilliantly written, globe-spanning novel about identity, faith, family, and sexuality.

In Tamil Nadu, India, a boy is born with blue skin. His father sets up an ashram, and the family makes a living off of the pilgrims who seek the child’s blessings and miracles, believing young Kalki to be the tenth human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. In Kalki’s tenth year, he is confronted with three trials that will test his power and prove his divine status and, his father tells him, spread his fame worldwide. While he seems to pass them, Kalki begins to question his divinity.

Over the next decade, his family unravels, and every relationship he relied on—father, mother, aunt, uncle, cousin—starts falling apart. Traveling from India to the underground rock scene of New York City, Blue-Skinned Gods explores ethnic, gender, and sexual identities, and spans continents and faiths, in an expansive and heartfelt look at the need for belief in our globally interconnected world.

From the author of Marrige of a Thousand Lies comes another groundbreaking novel about finding one's true identity.

Blue-Skinned Gods is the story of a boy born with blue skin, who believes that he's the Hindu god Vishnu and can perform miracles. The truth, though, is that his father is cashing in on his son's "miracles," swindling millions. So when Kalki's aunt falls ill and his powers fail him, Kalki must face the facts--that he's not a god, but a fraud, and find his true place in the world. He travels from his ashram in India to the United States, where he plays in a band, Blue-Skinned Gods, and attempts to come to terms with his true identity.

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