Hustle, Baby

From the incendiary voice behind Your Driver is Waiting, a riotous novel following a family of Tamil refugees who fled civil war in Sri Lanka to pursue a better life, just for it to be up-ended by the schemes of a self-proclaimed day-trading savant, jeopardizing everything they’ve worked so desperately to secure.

It’s hard enough to be a teenager at the turn of the millennium, and especially so for Dilo, who on top of juggling school and caring for her baby-cousin Maysha, is tasked with hustling to help her family get by. After Dilo’s born-again Christian mother, Mary, and Aunt Anji relocated the family from Sri Lanka fleeing the civil war, one thing’s become blindingly clear—the “rags-to-riches” fairytale they were promised is bullshit. The system is rigged, so sometimes you have to cheat to win.

Their family operates on the margins, working constantly to earn just enough to pay off their last meal. But they can only ignore stacks of overdue rent notices for so long, and when both matriarchs unexpectedly lose their jobs, desperation begins to set in. With eviction imminent, they are thrown a lifeline when they meet Mark, a swaggering day-trader, who promises to turn their small initial investment into thousands of dollars overnight on the stock exchange. At last, a miracle, and the family quickly become his apostles, recruiting investors by spreading the good word of his perpetual 10% returns. But they soon discover what really fuels Mark’s seemingly endless generosity, and when the markets turn they are left to navigate treacherous but familiar terrain. They must do what they always have, find a path where there isn’t one—survive.

With “a ferocity of voice that belongs to Priya Guns alone” (Camille Perri, NYTBR), Hustle, Baby is a fearless and feral novel about one family’s quest to live the good life, and what happens when we push those with nothing past their breaking point.