Salman Rushdie’s magical realist epic. Hugely complex and multilayered, it remains one of the most controversial books in recent literary history.

A hijacked aeroplane blows apart high above the English Channel and two figures tumble towards the sea: Gibreel Farishta, India’s legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices. Washed up on an English beach, their survival is a miracle. But there is a price to pay. Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen as opponents in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. But chosen by whom? Which is which? And what will be the outcome of their final confrontation?

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 1988
Published by
Viking
Publication date
Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie

About the Author

Salman Rushdie has been nominated for the Booker Prize seven times, winning in 1981, and was knighted for services to literature in 2007.
More about Salman Rushdie

Other nominated books by Salman Rushdie

Quichotte
The Enchantress of Florence
Shalimar the Clown
The Moor's Last Sigh
Shame
Midnight's Children
Prize winner