SHANTARAM

If you only read one book this year, then you will be hard pressed to find a more enjoyable one than Shantaram, recommended to me by my son and which I have just finished. Based (exactly how much is not 100% clear) on the real-life experiences during the 1980's of Australian Gregory David Roberts, it's very well written and a great story.

When Roberts' marriage breaks up, he turns to heroin and a series of armed robberies in order to pay for it. Caught and sentenced to 19 years in prison, he manages to escape in broad daylight, and flees to India on a false passport. In Mumbai he lives in a slum, running a free health clinic and engaging in a series of petty criminal activities. These gradually lead to greater and greater involvement in a branch of the city Mafia, headed by an Afghani who becomes a surrogate father to him. Along the way, he is put in a local jail for a while, and goes to Afghanistan to fight the Russians (being wounded in the process). He learns the local languages, falls in love, nearly dies, gets involved in lots of fights, and makes some great friends. It's a rollicking good 900-page read.

(After his Indian adventures, he is caught in Germany in 1990, and extradited back to Australia, where he completes his original sentence. The book is published in 2003 after he gets out.)

The film rights to Shantaram were sold to Johnny Depp, who would make a great lead character. But it seems to have got lost somewhere along the way. A pity.

Walter Blotscher