'The glow of my cigarette picks out a dark shape lying on the ground. I bend down to take a closer look. It's a dead sparrow. I wondered if I had become that bird, disoriented and lost.'

Young, handsome and contemptuous of his father's traditional ways, PK Malik leaves Bombay to start a new life in America. Stopping in Manchester to visit an old friend, he thinks he sees a business opportunity, and decides to stay on. Now fifty-five, PK has fallen out of love with life. His business is struggling and his wife Geeta is lonely, pining for the India she's left behind.

One day PK crosses the path of Esther, the wife of his business competitor, and they launch into an affair conducted in shabby hotel rooms, with the fear of discovery forever hanging in the air. Still Lives is a tightly woven, haunting work that pulls apart the threads of a family and plays with notions of identity.

Shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize

'An expertly crafted novel, filled with light-touch prose and inhabitable scenes, threaded with compelling and believable dialogue. It's a book you can lose yourself in, and I did.' Adam Farrer, author of Cold Fish Soup

'Through small moments and big changes Still Lives captures beautifully and painfully how it is to live across two countries, nowhere feeling quite like home.' Laura Besley, author of 100nehundred and The Almost Mothers

'Ruia's extraordinary skill lies in capturing the landscape of diasporic lives... Still Lives is a heart-rending evocation of a life in crisis. This is your must-read book for the summer.' Selma Carvalho, Joao-Roque Literary Journal

'This book grabs you from the get-go. Compelling characters, fantastic prose, sexy, funny and wise.' Heidi James, author of The Sound Mirror and So the Doves

'This book had my attention from the first page. Stunning. Heartbreaking. And so very real.' Khurrum Rahman, author of East of Hounslow and Homegrown Hero

'Lyrical, funny and at times haunting, Still Lives is an urgent novel that deserves to be read widely. It had me reading well into the night. Beautiful!' Awais Khan, author of No Honour and In the Company of Strangers