Londonstani

Blurb

Londonstani is the name of Gautam Malkani's debut novel published in the United Kingdom in 2006. The book's name is derived from the setting of the novel, London, and the story's subject matter, the lives of second and third generation South Asian immigrants. The book was highly promoted, but did not do well commercially.
The novel was a "much-anticipated debut" well before its release, as a result of the book's reception at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair and the six-figure advance reportedly paid for the rights to the book by publishing company Fourth Estate. Moreover, the novel promised a portrait of the kind of British young man who might have been involved in the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Publication was accompanied by an expensive promotion campaign including a tour of the United States. According to Time magazine, the advance for the book as the first part of a two-book deal was $675,000. Despite the attention paid to the book, sales were relatively weak and by April 2008 only 15,000 copies had been sold. The Guardian reported that people in the publishing industry started talking of the "Londonstani effect"—when a much-hyped novel can't sell as well as was expected.