The Accidental Apprentice
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- €9.49
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- €9.49
Publisher Description
As heard on BBC Woman's Hour
From the author of the book behind the blockbuster movie Slumdog Millionaire, a brilliant novel about life changing in an instant.
In life you never get what you deserve: you get what you negotiate…
What would you do if, out of the blue, a billionaire industrialist decided to make you the CEO of his company? No prior business experience necessary. There is only one catch: you need to pass seven tests from the 'textbook of life'.
This is the offer made to Sapna Sinha, an ordinary salesgirl in an electronics boutique in downtown Delhi, by Vinay Mohan Acharya, one of India's richest men.
Thus begins the most challenging journey of Sapna's life, one that will test her character, her courage and her capabilities. Along the way she encounters a host of memorable personalities, from a vain Bollywood superstar to a kleptomaniac Gandhian. At stake is a business empire worth ten billion dollars, and the future she has always dreamt of. But are the seven tests for real or is Acharya playing a deeper game, one driven by a perverse fantasy?
From the acclaimed author of Slumdog Millionaire, one of the biggest films of the decade, comes this compelling, suspenseful tale of the power of dreams, the lure of money and the universal need to know who we are.
Praise forThe Accidental Apprentice:
'It's easy to forget that before it was retitled for Hollywood, Slumdog Millionairewas a novel called Q&A,which makes its author, Vikas Swarup, probably the most successful Indian author you've never heard of…. Gripping stuff… Perhaps The Accidental Apprenticeis awaiting its Danny Boyle'The Times
Praise for Q&A/Slumdog Millionaire
'A colourful portrait of Indian society is painted with remarkable lightness and wit' Sunday Telegraph
'Absorbing and richly entertaining reading' The Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Swarup (Six Suspects) puts a distinctively Indian spin on this thoroughly enjoyable crime novel with a scenario that will remind many of The Hunger Games. Vinay Mohan Acharya, a self-made industrialist and one of the richest Indians alive, approaches 23-year-old Sapna Sinha, a salesgirl struggling to support her family on the meagre salary she earns from an electronics store in the heart of Delhi. The 68-year-old Acharya claims to have no worthy successor to his empire and offers to tap Sapna for the role, should she pass seven tests "designed to gauge mettle and potential as a CEO." Reluctant at first to submit to the whims of an apparent madman, Sapna is forced to accept Acharya's deal as she needs the reward he's offering. But, as she proves her mettle over and over again, questions arise: Is Acharya a benign spectator of the travails she has agreed to suffer or is he responsible for them? Is Acharya the person behind an ongoing financial scam that comes to light, and does he intend her to be the scapegoat? Or is the conspiracy elsewhere? It's not until she's falsely accused of murder that Sapna really understands her own capabilities or what she wants from life.