Ajay and the Mumbai Sun

Winner of the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, Ajay and the Mumbai Sun is a funny, optimistic and resourceful modern story centring on children – but with fantastic adult characters too. It is reminiscent of Slumdog Millionaire and Emil and the Detectives, and masterfully tackles tough topics such as social justice and truth in journalism, with a lightness of touch.

Abandoned on the Mumbai railways, Ajay has grown up with nothing but a burning wish to be a journalist. Finding an abandoned printing press, he and his friends Saif, Vinod, Yasmin and Jai create their own newspaper: The Mumbai Sun. As they hunt down stories for their paper, the children uncover corruption, fight for justice and battle to save their slum from bulldozers. But against some of the most powerful forces in the city, can Ajay and his friends really succeed in bringing the truth to light? Not to mention win the most important cricket match ever…

Varsha loves books that blend humour and story and has always wanted to be a writer. She has had non-fiction articles published in Legal Week, Legal Week Global, the on-line edition of economia, the on-line edition of Harper’s Bazaar, and the Times Education Supplement. A former Solicitor, she is now an English Language and Literature teacher. She has also taught English as a foreign language in Japan and Canada, and often draws on her travels in her writing. Varsha is represented by Barry Cunningham at Chicken House Books, and Ajay and the Mumbai Sun will be published by Chicken House on 7th April 2022.