Aravind Adiga’s first novel, The White Tiger, won the Booker Prize in 2008, mainly, I would suggest, for its complex characters and the devastating insights into modern India. Selection Day, his fourth and latest novel, shows the same perceptiveness as those that came before.

At the centre of the novel is cricket, a national obsession in contemporary India. The Kumar brothers – handsome Radha, the prodigy who all the selectors are fighting over, and his younger brother, Manju – have been working all their lives under the diabolical gaze of their father to improve the family’s status through cricketing greatness. And it finally seems as if they have achieved it. A sponsor has decided to support Radha, and their father has persuaded him to take Manju on as well. The family circumstances immediately improve. They leave the slums behind and enjoy a certain celebrity in the junior cricketing world and even beyond; everyone seems to be watching the progress of the Kumar brothers.

But as the boys’ worlds open up, they’re introduced to more than just new cricketing techniques. This is especially true for Manju, who befriends one of his brother’s fierce rivals. This friendship transcends cricket and makes Manju realise that there are other dreams out there for him too – the dream of becoming a forensic investigator, and even the dream of finding love and acceptance outside of cricket. But as Manju’s batting improves, it seems he will never be able to escape the game.

A stunning study of family, exploitation, conformity and the desire to make something of oneself, Selection Day won’t disappoint fans of Adiga’s work. It’s one of my top reads so far for 2016.

Reviewed by Lauren Cook