Description

She will breathe a new empire into life – but all worlds can escape their creator…

‘Full of adventure… A celebration of the power of storytelling’ GUARDIAN

In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. 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, ‘victory city’.

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 Bisnaga is no exception.

‘Mesmerising’ ELIF SHAFAK, author of The Island of Missing Trees

‘A total pleasure to read’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘One of the planet’s greatest writers’ EVENING STANDARD

‘A triumph… Enthralling’ I

***A FINANCIAL TIMES AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR***
***A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK***

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