Run and Hide

By: Pankaj Mishra

Narrated by: Mikhail Sen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Arun knows there is only way out of this small railway town. He is about to enrol in the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, determined to make something of himself. But once there, he meets two friends who are prepared to go to unimaginable lengths to succeed.

In just a few years, Arun's friends become the success stories of their generation. In private planes and expensive cars, from New York to Tuscany, they play out their Gatsby-style fantasies.

In reality, these men are about to pay for their transgressions, but who exactly will pay the price? Will it be Arun? Will it be Alia, a female writer and influencer, who is piecing together the story of a big global financial scandal?

Run and Hide is a novel about a group of friends in an age of upheaval and breakdown; it is a story for our times.

©2022 Pankaj Mishra (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Terrific...elegantly written, incisively observed and deeply satisfying to read." (Kamila Shamsie)

"A book that demands to be read and rewards reading." (Mohsin Hamid)

"Pankaj Mishra returns to fiction after two decades with a gripping and remarkable novel - his best work yet. It captures the trajectory of our time through insights and moments that are startling, pure, and have a strange inevitability." (Amit Chaudhuri)

A Fascinating read / listen despite itself

This book is excellently written and brilliantly performed. There is no question the writer is a major talent and a master of his art. It has two weaknesses first the end is visible from the beginning. Second it’s not an original tale the activistic safety of the antique confronting the fear of the new inevitable remoulding the society and world of the hero is a story that has been told a thousand times. As the Persian myth tells us this too shall pass. The problem is that hero-narrator is paralysed with self doubt and fear of stepping into the stream to the point where he appears hopeless as he fails to embrace anything with conviction.

That said the book is in its own way brilliant. Succinctly leading one on a kaleidoscopic journey where the readeris forced to confront the questions and feelings that the narrator spends his time dodging. Therein lies the power of the writer. I recommend everyone read this book. It might be weird but it does not disappoint.

The reader is also amazing they embrace the character and have an authenticity of delivery that holds my attention