How does a village student, living with uncertainty about his next meal or home, who failed his boards intermediate exam, go on to a career in the civil services (IPS)? With integrity, inventiveness, and a never-say-die spirit. In IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma’s case, there was also the promise of love. Twelfth Fail is his extraordinary story, the gripping narrative of a man who put his heart and soul into making the impossible possible.