Ousep Chacko, journalist and failed novelist, prides himself on being the last of the real men. His wife, Mariamma, finds ways to feed her family despite their lack of money, but in her spare time she fantasizes about Ouseps early death. One day, their seventeen-year-old son, Unnia boy obsessed with comicsdoes something terrible and inexplicable. Ousep and Mariamma separately try to solve the mystery of Unnis action but find no answers. Three years later, Ousep receives a package that sends him back to the search. He starts to hound his sons friends and a famous neurosurgeon. Meanwhile, younger son Thomaa twelve-year-old with below-sea-level self-esteemfalls desperately in love with their haughty, beautiful teenage neighbour, who has her own secrets. The Illicit Happiness of Other Peoplea smart, wry and poignant novelis part mystery, part philosophy and part unlikely love story.