A new novel by award-winning writer Lindsay Pereira takes a hard look at the dreams and harsh realities behind the growing wave of young Indians moving abroad in search of a better life.

Titled Super, the book follows Sukhpreet Gill, a young man from Jalandhar who leaves behind his home, family land and the woman he loves to chase what he believes will be a prosperous future in Canada. Like many others, he imagines a life of big houses, steady money and new opportunities. But the reality he encounters in a country that isn’t quite ready to accept him begins to unravel that dream.

Running parallel to Sukhpreet’s story is that of Maynard Wilson, a Canadian struggling with unemployment, mounting debt and the possibility of losing his home. When the lives of these two men collide, the consequences are devastating.

Through their intersecting journeys, Pereira explores migration, identity and the emotional cost of pursuing opportunity far from home.

Writers and critics have already praised the novel for its sensitive portrayal of migration. Journalist and author Sonia Faleiro describes it as “a gorgeously written, powerfully rendered novel of migration, striving, hopes and dreams,” while writer Santanu Bhattacharya calls it “deeply empathetic and eerily unsettling” in its exploration of the migration dream and its aftermath. Author Jerry Pinto says the book reinforces Pereira’s reputation as “one of India’s most interesting and daring novelists.”

Pereira says the novel grew out of his concern over the rising number of young Indians leaving the country for the West.

“I began writing this novel as a response to what I believed was starting to look like a crisis—an exodus of young Indians,” he said. “There seems to be a huge gap between what many students are promised and the reality they eventually face. I wanted to give them a voice.”

HarperCollins India, which is publishing the book, says the story captures a subject that feels both urgent and deeply personal today. Dharini Bhaskar, Associate Publisher, Literary at HarperCollins India, said the novel tells the story of a young man’s risky journey to the West while examining ambition, hunger and the fading promise of a better life.

Pereira, who was born and raised in Mumbai, studied at St. Xavier’s College and the University of Mumbai. He holds a PhD in literature and has written extensively on gender attitudes in nineteenth-century Indian fiction. His debut novel Gods and Ends was shortlisted for the 2021 JCB Prize for Literature and the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award. His second novel, The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao, went on to win the Mumbai Literature Live! Literary Award for fiction book of the year.

With Super, Pereira turns his focus to one of the most pressing aspirations shaping the lives of young Indians today—the hope that somewhere far away, a better life is waiting.