Dutton publisher Carole Baron shelled out big money (though not, she insists, the $1 million reported elsewhere) for a first novel by a young Anglo-Indian novelist, Hari Kunzru, for whom she prophesies "a dazzling career." His book is The Impressionist, which she describes as a "unique tour of worlds we've never seen, told through the eyes of a young man who is born a lie, and must adapt to survive." The buy was a two-book deal, made with Emma Perry at Carlisle & Company, acting for Kunzru's London agent, Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown. It was for U.S. and Canadian only, U.K. having already been sold (to Hamish Hamilton); a German publisher is also on board. Publication is set for spring 2002, to be followed by a Plume paperback.