From one of the greatest writers of our time: a spellbinding, entertaining, wildly imaginative novel, which blends history and myth with tremendous philosophical depth. A masterful, mesmerising modern tale about worlds dangerously colliding, the monsters that are unleashed when reason recedes, and a beautiful testament to the power of love and humanity in chaotic times. Inspired by 2,000 years of storytelling yet rooted in the concerns of our present moment, this is a spectacular achievement – both very funny and terrifying. It is narrated by our descendants 1,000 years hence, looking back on ‘The War of the Worlds’ that began with ‘the time of the strangenesses’: a simple gardener begins to levitate; a baby is born with the ability to detect corruption in people; the ghosts of two long-dead philosophers begin arguing once more, and storms pummel New York so hard that a crack appears in the universe, letting in the destructive djinns of myth. Nothing less than the survival of our world is at stake. Only one, a djinn princess who centuries before had learnt to love humankind, resolves to help us: in the face of dynastic intrigue, she raises an army composed of her semi-magical great-great-etc-grandchildren – a small motley crew of endearing characters who come together to save the world in a battle waged for 1,001 nights – or, to be precise, two years, eight months and twenty-eight nights.
Sir Salman Rushdie has received many awards for his writing, including the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. In 1993 Midnight's Children was judged to be the ‘Booker of Bookers’, the best novel to have won the Booker Prize in its first 25 years. In June 2007 he received a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours.