Illicit Happiness Of Other People

Ousep Chacko, journalist and failed novelist, prides himself on being "e;the last of the real men."e; His wife, Mariamma, finds ways to feed her family despite their lack of money, but in her spare time she fantasizes about Ousep's early death. One day, their seventeen-year-old son, Unni-a boy obsessed with comics-does something terrible and inexplicable. Ousep and Mariamma separately try to solve the mystery of Unni's action but find no answers. Three years later, Ousep receives a package that sends him back to the search. He starts to hound his son's friends and a famous neurosurgeon. Meanwhile, younger son Thoma-a twelve-year-old with below-sea-level self-esteem-falls desperately in love with their haughty, beautiful teenage neighbour, who has her own secrets. The Illicit Happiness of Other People-a smart, wry and poignant novel-is part mystery, part philosophy and part unlikely love story.

Ousep Chacko, journalist and failed novelist, prides himself on being "e;the last of the real men."e; His wife, Mariamma, finds ways to feed her family despite their lack of money, but in her spare time she fantasizes about Ousep's early death. One day, their seventeen-year-old son, Unni-a boy obsessed with comics-does something terrible and inexplicable. Ousep and Mariamma separately try to solve the mystery of Unni's action but find no answers. Three years later, Ousep receives a package that sends him back to the search. He starts to hound his son's friends and a famous neurosurgeon. Meanwhile, younger son Thoma-a twelve-year-old with below-sea-level self-esteem-falls desperately in love with their haughty, beautiful teenage neighbour, who has her own secrets. The Illicit Happiness of Other People-a smart, wry and poignant novel-is part mystery, part philosophy and part unlikely love story.