THE LAST JET-ENGINE LAUGH is a brilliantly witty, yet poignant tale of India, told through the lives of three generations of the Bhatt family. Hailed as one of the sharpest literary works of its time when it was first published in 2001, it takes the reader to the still-distant 2030s, when the most precious commodity in the war-riddled world is potable water. And as Paresh Bhatt, the protagonist, makes himself an espresso with real water, he wonders if in this world of drought and famine, loneliness is the biggest killer of them all. As the story oscillates between 1930 and 2030, Ruchir Joshi weaves an evocative narrative about the social, cultural and political evolution of India-from pre-Independence times when Paresh''s parents fell in love while opposing the British to a dystopian future when Para, his spirited fighter pilot daughter, takes the last, possibly suicidal, stand against a US-backed Saudi-Pak alliance in the name of her country even as the world around her falls to ruin. This edition, with a stunning new jacket, is published alongside Joshi''s latest novel, Great Eastern Hotel, and is set to woo a new generation of readers with its wickedly cynical take on history ...