Description

‘A total pleasure to read, a bright burst of colour in a grey winter season’ Sunday Times

She will whisper an empire into existence – but all stories have a way of getting away from their creators . . .

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.

‘A celebration of the power of literature and the endurance of storytelling’ Guardian

Publisher Review

Salman Rushdie is a genius and I wish he could read me a story - or a chapter of his book - every night before bed. The scale and scope of his intellect and his imagination is googolplex. -- A.M. Homes, author of THE UNFOLDING It does not resemble any other novel I could name. A major accomplishment by one of our greatest living writers. -- Michael Cunningham, author of THE HOURS No one, and I mean no one, can bring an entire world to life... [like] Salman Rushdie. -- Gary Shteyngart, author of OUR COUNTRY FRIENDS This is Salman Rushdie at his most virtuosic. -- Hari Kunzru, author of THE IMPRESSIONIST It will show you the adult world in a whole new light. Only a master storyteller can do that. -- Jarvis Cocker, author of GOOD POP, BAD POP