Mahtab Narsimhan 
The Tiffin 

A charming, heartbreaking and beautifully evocative novel about fate, friendship and family



Every day in the vast and vibrant city of Bombay, thousands of dabbawalla delivery-men transport hundreds of thousands of freshly prepared lunches in tiffin boxes, straight from workers’ homes and into their offices. Even though the city is a maze of streets, and the tiffins carry a delivery code only dabbawallas can understand, no lunch ever gets lost.



Well, almost never…



When a secret note placed in a tiffin box goes astray, the consequences for a young boy are devastating. Separated from his mother and forced to work as a slave in a cafe, Kunal is sure that if he could just find his family, his life and his fortunes would change forever.



Recruiting the help of a dabbawalla friend, Kunal vows to find his mother – and it seems the answer may lie with the tiffins once more. If a lost note was the beginning of his destiny, can he use another to change it?

A propos de l’auteur

Mahtab was born in Mumbai, India, but at the time she grew up there it was called Bombay and always will be, in her mind. As a child, though not overly shy, she wasn’t too enterprising or ambitious. She will always be thankful to her mother, who always pushed her to try out new things. Mahtab has always been an avid reader, and her childhood summers were filled with books, more books and sunshine. Mahtab is a Persian name and it means moonlight. She never really appreciated its beauty until recently and now that she does, all her books have some description of moonlight in each of them. So, that’s her sharing her little secret! Mahtab immigrated to Canada in 1997. Her first novel, THE THIRD EYE, took four years and twenty rewrites before making it to publication. It went on to win the Silver Birch Award in 2009. Mahtab lives in Toronto with her husband, Rahul, son, Aftab and her golden retriever, Coby. She continues to write, inspired by life, love and the desire to make sense of the world through stories. Follow Mahtab at www.mahtabnarsimhan.com or on Twitter: @Mahtab Narsimhan