This book was on the Booker longlist, and it deserves to have progressed further in my humble opinion. It's a very sad coming-of-age story about Rumi, an Indian girl in Cardiff who is a very gifted (hence the title) mathematician. Her father, a maths lecturer, sets about grooming her for Oxbridge and sure enough at age 15 she makes it.
But her academic success comes at a huge price - to Rumi and her family. Rumi longs for love, but her parents are incapable of providing it or understanding her emotional needs. They think that giving her academic success is the greatest gift they can provide.
It's a very straightforwardly-told story, without any tricksy narrative devices. Mostly it's Rumi's story, but there are also sections which look at what her parents are thinking. The end took me by surprise.
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