Pepsi and Maria

Pepsi is a smart street kid in an unnamed South American country – his mother is dead and his father, a famous politician, has disowned him.  At his side is the kidnapped Maria, who finds in Pepsi a true ‘brother’.  Pepsi’s mission is to return Maria to her home – the rubbish-tip township she call ‘Heaven’ But to do so he has to escape the sadistic policeman Caddy, whose obsession is to kill both children – as personal vendetta and also as part of his crusade to rid the city of the ‘filth’ of street children.

In this hard hitting yet fantastical novel, Zameenzad gives a penetrating insight into the lives of the dispossessed in modern society.  Remarkably the street  children’s zest for life and beauty ensures that their dramatic story, despite the appalling reality of their lives, is both uplifting and exhilarating.

'If you can imagine a hybrid of City of God and The Wizard of Oz, then Pepsi and Maria comes close' Boyd Tonkin, The Independent 

'A beautifully crafted, multi-faceted book: a highly dramatic and gripping thriller and a searing indictment of cruelty and inhumanity' New Internationalist