THE RADIANCE OF ASHES is a beautifully described tale about desire, duty and dreams and how to reconcile them. Jingo is something of a drifter who lives on money from his parents, part-time employment as a market researcher, and fantasies of being a writer. After a moment of rash bravery - standing up to a bully of a policeman - he finds himself forced to lie low for a while. Hiding out in the underbelly of the city slums and escaping into memories of the past, Jingo recalls his cosseted childhood as the apple of his mother's eye and - sometimes - the bane of his father's existence; the loss of his older brother; his days at school and college; his long-standing and destructive relationship with Cris, a middle-class East Indian girl, and the woman he once thought was the love of his life.