V. S. Naipaul

Born into poverty, then trapped in the shackles of charity and gratitude, Mr Biswas is an outsider who refuses to conform to the customs of his grander in-laws whose house he lives in. Finally finding a house of his own, he triumphs over the smaller minds who try to repress him.

Former government minister Ralph Singh is the perpetual outsider: displaced, disillusioned, and now living in exile, Ralph reflects on his earlier life and the searing effects of colonialism. Born on the colonial island of Isabella, he is one of West India's many 'Mimic Men'.