The Tiffin, Mahtab Narsimhan
The Tiffin, Mahtab Narsimhan
List: $8.99 | Sale: $6.30
Club: $4.49

The Tiffin

Author: Mahtab Narsimhan

Narrator: Michael Mola

Unabridged: 5 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/04/2021


Synopsis

A lost tiffin. An abandoned child. A boy's desperate search for family. The dabbawallas of Mumbai deliver box lunches - called tiffins - to white collar workers all over the vast city. They are legendary for their near-perfect service: for every six million lunches sent, only one will fail to reach its intended destination. The Tiffin is about that one time in millions when a box goes astray, changing lives forever. When a note placed in a tiffin is lost, a newborn-Kunal-is separated from his mother. Twelve years later, Kunal lives as a virtual slave under the thumb of his foster father, Seth. With danger and oppression making it impossible to stay where he is, Kunal asks his friend Vinayak, an aging dabbawalla, to help him find his birth mother. Vinayak introduces Kunal to the tiffin carriers, and a plan is hatched. Along the way, Kunal learns what it means to be part of a family.Praise for The Tiffin:"Melding the fantastically factual with fiction, Narsimhan sheds light on a relatively unknown part of Mumbai life while simultaneously creating a compelling quest that reads like a classic folk tale. Forgive the groan-inducing wordplay, but a novel this original is one in six million." `~ Quill & Quire

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jenny on May 26, 2014

I read this book because it's the pick this month for my bookshop's children's book club, which I will be running tomorrow. Unfortunately, it left a bit to be desired. It was well-written, and there were some touching moments, but for the most part I felt quite frustrated at the lack of real story g......more

Goodreads review by Mark David on May 04, 2021

Do you know those books that so completely immerse you in the lives of its characters that you forget there was once a living, breathing person typing all those words? The Tiffin, by Mahtab Narsimhan, is such a book. Kumal is a 12-year-old orphan working in slave-like conditions for a Bombay restaura......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on December 31, 2011

There is a reason why The Tiffin has been listed as one of Quill & Quire’s 15 “Books of the Year” for 2011. There is a reason why this book is receiving critical acclaim. And there is a reason why I absolutely loved it. Actually there are many reasons. Narsimhan’s story is crafted around the dabbawal......more