Having written advertisements, rock songs, travel stories, and bass lines, Shehan Karunatilaka has brought out Chinaman as his first novel. Ambitious, playful, and strikingly original, Chinaman is a novel about cricket and Sri Lanka - and of Sri Lanka through its cricket. Hailed by the Gratiaen Prize judges as 'one of the most imaginative works of contemporary Sri Lankan finction', it is an astounding book.

In Sri Lanka, where it was self-published earlier this year, the book has been highly acclaimed. The Sunday Times called it the 'first genuine contender for the title of Great Sri Lankan Novel.' And when they selected Chinaman for the prestigous Gratiaen Prize, the judges said, "It is every Gratiaen panel's dream that they will uncover the next big thing in Sri Lankan English writing, and while wary of making such a claim ourselves, we are tempoted to do so tonight.'

Smriti Daniel, commenting in The Sunday Times, remarked:
"2011 is going to be a big year for Shehan Karunatilaka. One would think that Shehan would have a hard time topping 2010 - that was the year he married Eranga Tennekoon, known to her friends as ET. She designed the eye-catching cover of Chinaman’s first edition, which literally flew off the shelves. "She used to be my Art Director and now she’s my first reader and critic. She tries to be kind with her criticism and I try to accept it with grace. We don’t always succeed," says Shehan.

What makes Chinaman so special? The playfulness of its form, its wide and deep referencing of cricket, its anarchic, black humour - all these mark the novel out as something truly original and remarkable.

Rajdeep Sardesai has liked the book immensely: 'A book that weaves effortlessly between cricket, Sri Lankan civil society and politics. At last, the subcontinent's biggest passion has found a deserved space in fiction writing."

The book got rave reviews from ESPN Cricinfo as well. "Karunatilaka skewers cricketers old, new, good and bad, all in style. And with prose that is infectious. Once you get past the first 50 pages, which are the slowest but not by much, the book is - no cliché intended - unputdownable. The mysteries of Pradeep Mathew, combined with the brutal dissection of cricket and the delicious morsels of cricketing trivia come together to form one of the strongest, most immersive plots in a sports novel, or indeed any novel, I have read in a long time."

We are thankful to Rachel Tanzer, Head of Publicity,

Random House India <rtanzer@randomhouse.co.in>,(+120 460 7519) for sending this beautiful book for our website.

Cricket's library has been enriched by the appearance of this book. It could become the most popular and the high quality of the work is deserving of success.