Category: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Random House India
Rights: World rights available (excluding Indian subcontinent), Dramatisation rights available
It is a universally acknowledged truth that an immigrant in England must be in want of a visa. In 1980s London, young Sri Lankan Chamath, recently down from Oxford with a degree in Maths, struggles to reconcile himself to the workplace. When his father writes to him to say, ‘You’re on your own now, mate’, assuming that the magic word ‘Oxford’ will open any door, he realizes that push must now come to shove. Soon, Chamath gets dragged below the invisible grid that exists in any big city, into a blue-grey twilight world of illegals. Hired as a male escort, a ‘professional’, a career at which he excels to his great surprise, he finds an unlikely means of making his way through the world. Then, two former clients—an older couple—decide to rescue him—with disastrous consequences. Masterfully and hilariously told, The Professional is a sage, canny exploration of love and life.
The author: Ashok Ferrey