This is a story about the Buddha and his disciples, among them an ordinary monk, one of the questioners, and an extraordinary king, who seemed to have all the answers. It is also about how the movement called Dhamma was born, spread, changed lives and got changed itself. Alternating Upali's chronicle - a de-glorified, factual account of the life of Buddha - with that of Upali's own life during the reign of Emperor Ashoka, and imbuing both these parallel narratives with a wealth of historical detail and philosophical debate, A Spoke in the Wheel is an ambitious and erudite work of historical fiction - intricate in its craftsmanship, vital in its ideas and epic in its sweep.