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The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries - from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie
She will whisper an empire into existence - but all stories have a way of getting away from their creators . . .
'A total pleasure'
SUNDAY TIMES
'Shows once again why his work will always matter'
NEW YORK TIMES
'Rushdie still has the gift of alchemy'
FINANCIAL TIMES
In the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga - literally 'victory city' - the wonder of the world.
Over the next two hundred and fifty years, Pampa Kampana's life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga's as she attempts to make good on the task that the goddess set for her- to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and as years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, Bisnaga is no exception.
The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries - from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie
She will whisper an empire into existence - but all stories have a way of getting away from their creators . . .
'A total pleasure'
SUNDAY TIMES
'Shows once again why his work will always matter'
NEW YORK TIMES
'Rushdie still has the gift of alchemy'
FINANCIAL TIMES
In the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga - literally 'victory city' - the wonder of the world.
Over the next two hundred and fifty years, Pampa Kampana's life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga's as she attempts to make good on the task that the goddess set for her- to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and as years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, Bisnaga is no exception.
Salman Rushdie is the author of fifteen previous novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.
In its haunting, uncanny, predictive power Victory City shows once
again why his work will always matter.
*New York Times*
A novel by a man who still, in his eighth decade, derives delight
in his talent and all that he can do with it. The book is a total
pleasure to read, a bright burst of colour in a grey winter
season.
*Sunday Times*
A joyfully extravagant alternative Mahabharata... a mashup of myth
and fairytale, comedy and melodrama, celebrating women's agency and
the enduring power of storytelling.
*Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2023**
Victory City is full of life and colour, and some of Rushdie's key
themes: female strength, the importance of storytelling, the danger
of censorship.
*Sunday Times, *Summer Reads of 2023**
What of Rushdie's powers? We cannot know if they are god-given, but
on the evidence of this profoundly entertaining tale... Rushdie
certainly still has the gift of alchemy.
*Financial Times*
A playful, magical realist epic, full of adventure and comically
clashing registers, and a celebration of the power of storytelling
and the endurance of literature.
*Guardian*
Rushdie’s sheer love of fiction is irrepressible.
*Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year**
One of the richest and most exuberant books Salman Rushdie has
written in years... remarkable.
*Scotsman, *Summer Reads of 2023**
Rushdie's relentless creative energy pairs well with his
understanding of how history works... It's as if Rushdie has
dropped a molecule of divinity into a petri dish containing the
other basic stuff of life, and watched a civilization
cultivate.
*TIME*
Rushdie's lavish, playful 15th novel plants him firmly back on
Indian soil, cooking up an alternative Mahabharata and spinning an
elaborate founding myth from the bare bones of history. He's
enjoying the enterprise and his sense of fun is infectious.
*Guardian*
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