The Illicit Happiness of Other People is Manu Joseph's anticipated second novel following his PEN Open Book Award–winning Serious Men (2010). In a similar spirit, yet derived from a time and place closer to home, Joseph crafts the smart, wry story of the Chackos, a Christian family living in a gossipy Madras housing community in the late 1980s.

Through controlled prose and unsettling encounters, Joseph exposes the essence of domestic life in southern India. The cast of quirky yet unerringly written characters along with Joseph's voice with its humorous observations transforms The Illicit Happiness of Other People from mere social commentary to narrative that fearlessly takes on some of life's haunting questions.