Polite Society

'Is it possible to marry a book? Because POLITE SOCIETY is so funny, smart, sophisticated, and captivating, you just want to spend your whole life with it. It was love at first sight from the very first page' Kevin Kwan, author of CRAZY RICH ASIANS

Ania is the beautiful, clever and very slightly bored scion of a rich Indian family whose machinations soon lead her down the primrose path of match-making - first for her aunt ('There was one in most of the grand houses in Delhi, usually beached somewhere on the upper floors.') and then for her friend Dimple.

Set against the background of 'polite' Delhi society, it is rich with stiletto-sharp observation, is a delightful social comedy, and yet is poignant, too.

'Witty, smart, compelling' Kamila Shamsie, author of HOME FIRE

“With biting wit, this send-up of high society deflates social strata while bringing tenderness and romance to its comedy of manners”

Witty, smart, compelling Kamila Shamsie
A deep and utter treat: a sly, witty Delhi reinvention of Emma. Rao writes like Vikram Seth's naughty younger brother and I want to have cocktails and gossip with him at once Patrick Gale
The only way to write an Austentatious novel Financial Times
A bitingly funny version of Austen's Emma. . . . Could have been titled Crazy Rich Indians South China Morning Post

Mahesh Rao is the author of The Smoke is Rising, which won the Tata First Book Award for fiction and was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and the Crossword Award. One Point Two Billion, his second book, is a critically acclaimed collection of short stories. He lives most of the year in Mysore, India.

'Is it possible to marry a book? Because POLITE SOCIETY is so funny, smart, sophisticated, and captivating, you just want to spend your whole life with it. It was love at first sight from the very first page' Kevin Kwan, author of CRAZY RICH ASIANS Ania is the beautiful, clever and very slightly bored scion of a rich Indian family whose machinations soon lead her down the primrose path of match-making - first for her aunt (' There was one in most of the grand houses in Delhi, usually beached somewhere on the upper floors.') and then for her friend Dimple. Set against the background of 'polite' Delhi society, it is rich with stiletto-sharp observation, is a delightful social comedy, and yet is poignant, too. 'Witty, smart, compelling' Kamila Shamsie, author of HOME FIRE

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