Lords of Serendipity by Randy Boyagoda review – a campus satire for this moment of crisis

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In a review published by The Guardian on November 3, 2026, Yagnishsing Dawoor discusses Canadian author Randy Boyagoda's new novel, Lords of Serendipity. Described as equal parts satire, dystopia, and exposé, the book tells the story of the corruption and corporatisation of higher education, set across Sri Lanka, the United States, and Italy. The narrative follows various students, parents, and professors dealing with the university as a common antagonist, including a Sri Lankan teen named Devi whose modest family works as funeral mourners to pay for her WhatsApp tutor. Boyagoda's novel touches on contemporary upheavals, including pressures on higher education, the erosion of the humanities, AI threats, and systemic institutional corruption.