This startling and satisfying book captures the tumult, ambition, hardship,and serenity that mark today's India. Paul Theroux's characters riskventuring far beyond the subcontinent's well-worn paths to discover woe ortruth or peace. A middle-aged couple on vacation veers heedlessly fromidyll to chaos. A buttoned-up Boston lawyer finds succour in Mumbai'sreeking slums. And a young woman befriends an elephant in Bangalore.