"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 first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees 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 Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place 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 his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power. Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas—this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

Det här är den första delen av Shantaram. I början av 1980-talet begick australiensaren Gregory David Roberts en rad väpnade rån för att bekosta sitt heroinmissbruk. Han åkte fast men lyckades rymma från ett av Australiens mest välbevakade fängelser. På falskt pass tog han sig sedan till Indien och anonymiteten i den myllrande miljonstaden Bombay. Shantaram är Gregory David Roberts egen berättelse från de händelserika och omtumlande åren som förrymd fånge i Bombays undre värld. I ett av stadens slumområden öppnar han en sjukvårdsmottagning för de fattiga och nödställda. Han arbetar för maffian som pengatvättare och förfalskare av pass och han följer med maffialedaren Abdel Khader Khan till Afghanistan för att förse mujaheddin med vapen i kampen mot ryssarna. Han kastas i indiskt fängelse och får utstå tortyr och svält. I den grönögda mystiska Karla möter han kärleken.

"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 first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees 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 Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place 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 his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power. Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas—-this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

Det här är den tredje delen av Shantaram. I början av 1980-talet begick australiensaren Gregory David Roberts en rad väpnade rån för att bekosta sitt heroinmissbruk. Han åkte fast men lyckades rymma från ett av Australiens mest välbevakade fängelser. På falskt pass tog han sig sedan till Indien och anonymiteten i den myllrande miljonstaden Bombay. Shantaram är Gregory David Roberts egen berättelse från de händelserika och omtumlande åren som förrymd fånge i Bombays undre värld. I ett av stadens slumområden öppnar han en sjukvårdsmottagning för de fattiga och nödställda. Han arbetar för maffian som pengatvättare och förfalskare av pass och han följer med maffialedaren Abdel Khader Khan till Afghanistan för att förse mujaheddin med vapen i kampen mot ryssarna. Han kastas i indiskt fängelse och får utstå tortyr och svält. I den grönögda mystiska Karla möter han kärleken.

Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr. Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero. It means "man of God's peace," which is what the Indian people know of Lin. What they do not know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. He served two years and leaped over the wall. He was imprisoned for a string of armed robberies peformed to support his heroin addiction, which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but for Greg Roberts, that's only the beginning. He arrives in Bombay with little money, an assumed name, false papers, an untellable past, and no plans for the future. Fortunately, he meets Prabaker right away, a sweet, smiling man who is a street guide. He takes to Lin immediately, eventually introducing him to his home village, where they end up living for six months. When they return to Bombay, they take up residence in a sprawling illegal slum of 25,000 people and Linbaba becomes the resident "doctor." With a prison knowledge of first aid and whatever medicines he can cadge from doing trades with the local Mafia, he sets up a practice and is regarded as heaven-sent by these poor people who have nothing but illness, rat bites, dysentery, and anemia. He also meets Karla, an enigmatic Swiss-American woman, with whom he falls in love. Theirs is a complicated relationship, and Karla's connections are murky from the outset. Roberts is not reluctant to wax poetic; in fact, some of his prose is downright embarrassing. Throughought the novel, however, all 944 pages of it, every single sentence rings true. He is a tough guy with a tender heart, one capable of what is judged criminal behavior, but a basically decent, intelligent man who would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially anyone he knew. He is a magnet for trouble, a soldier of fortune, a picaresque hero: the rascal who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. His story is irresistible. Stay tuned for the prequel and the sequel. —Valerie Ryan

Det här är den tredje delen av Shantaram. I början av 1980-talet begick australiensaren Gregory David Roberts en rad väpnade rån för att bekosta sitt heroinmissbruk. Han åkte fast men lyckades rymma från ett av Australiens mest välbevakade fängelser. På falskt pass tog han sig sedan till Indien och anonymiteten i den myllrande miljonstaden Bombay. Shantaram är Gregory David Roberts egen berättelse från de händelserika och omtumlande åren som förrymd fånge i Bombays undre värld. I ett av stadens slumområden öppnar han en sjukvårdsmottagning för de fattiga och nödställda. Han arbetar för maffian som pengatvättare och förfalskare av pass och han följer med maffialedaren Abdel Khader Khan till Afghanistan för att förse mujaheddin med vapen i kampen mot ryssarna. Han kastas i indiskt fängelse och får utstå tortyr och svält. I den grönögda mystiska Karla möter han kärleken.

A sequel to SHANTARAM but equally a standalone novel, The Mountain Shadow follows Lin on further adventures in shadowy worlds and cultures. It is a novel about seeking identity, love, meaning, purpose, home, even the secret of life...As the story begins, Lin has found happiness and love, but when he gets a call that a friend is in danger, he has no choice but to go to his aid, even though he knows that leaving this paradise puts everything at risk, including himself and his lover. When he arrives to fulfil his obligation, he enters a room with eight men: each will play a significant role in the story that follows. One will become a friend, one an enemy, one will try to kill Lin, one will be killed by another... Some characters appeared in Shantaram, others are introduced for the first time, including Navida Der, a half-Irish, half-Indian detective, and Edras, a philosopher with fundamental beliefs. Gregory David Roberts is an extraordinarily gifted writer whose stories are richly rewarding on many levels. Like Shantaram, The Mountain Shadow will be a compelling adventure story with a profound message at its heart.