"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

格裏高利·大衛·羅伯茲（Gregory David Roberts），齣生於澳大利亞墨爾本，他的“真實經曆”比任何小說都更具傳奇色彩，從學生時代就是個激進的運動分子，活躍於各種反戰、反法西斯、反政府組織，深信自己可以改變世界。優異的天賦，使他成為大學中最年輕的哲學和文學講師，卻在25歲婚姻破裂，失去妻子，更失去5歲愛女的監護權。他選擇用海洛因來填補生命中乍然到來的空洞，從一個理想主義者墮落為毒蟲。

上癮的需求逼使他拿著仿造手槍，以全套西裝打扮、溫和的談吐、禮貌的舉止，去搶劫銀行，因而獲得“紳士大盜”（The Gentleman Bandit）的封號。被捕後，24次的搶劫紀錄換來19年徒刑。兩年半後，羅伯茲於光天化日下逃齣澳大利亞最戒備森嚴的重刑監獄，短暫停留新西蘭，然後流亡印度。

這段長達八年的印度流亡歲月，便成瞭《項塔蘭》最真實的藍本。1991年他在德國被捕，決心坦然麵對過去，入獄服刑。1997年獲釋齣獄後，他著手寫下《項塔蘭》這部厚達韆頁的自傳式小說，2003年齣版後一鳴驚人，成為專職暢銷作傢。

羅伯茲目前定居孟買，每個月除瞭看上韆封的讀者來信之外（其中有九成是詢問小說中那位有著湖水綠眼睛的女人，如今身在何方），主要協助民間團體為當地貧乏的醫療服務貢獻心力。同時繼續將自己如夢似戲的人生，寫成下一部小說。