Salman Rushdie’s new novel is being released this September…
A mouthful of a title, and quite an inventive way of saying ‘1001 nights’, this will be Rushdie’s eleventh novel – and his first directed at adults for seven years.
His previous release was the non-fiction Joseph Anton: A Memoir (2012), written about the time which he spent in hiding due to the now infamous fatwa which was issued against him thanks to the publication of The Satanic Verses (1988) and the reaction of the fundamental Islamic leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini.
The following is what we know about the book already:
“In the near future, after a storm strikes New York City, the strangenesses begin. A down-to-earth gardener finds that his feet no longer touch the ground. A graphic novelist awakens in his bedroom to a mysterious entity that resembles his own sub–Stan Lee creation. Abandoned at the mayor’s office, a baby identifies corruption with her mere presence, marking the guilty with blemishes and boils. A seductive gold digger is soon tapped to combat forces beyond imagining.
Unbeknownst to them, they are all descended from the whimsical, capricious, wanton creatures known as the jinn, who live in a world separated from ours by a veil. Centuries ago, Dunia, a princess of the jinn, fell in love with a mortal man of reason. Together they produced an astonishing number of children, unaware of their fantastical powers, who spread across generations in the human world.
Once the line between worlds is breached on a grand scale, Dunia’s children and others will play a role in an epic war between light and dark spanning a thousand and one nights—or two years, eight months, and twenty-eight nights. It is a time of enormous upheaval, where beliefs are challenged, words act like poison, silence is a disease, and a noise may contain a hidden curse.”
Does anybody know if “strangeness-es” is actually a word? Anyhow, that word, and this blurb, point to the vibrant and colourful writing which readers can expect from an upcoming Rushdie novel!
Speaking of vibrancy, Rushdie has also announced via Twitter that the more minimalist cover above (which is likely to be the hardcover) won’t be the only cover available…
Another day, another cover. Here’s the UK cover, following the brilliantly lively design style of the UK paperbacks. pic.twitter.com/qTF1XuzlPj
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) April 18, 2015
And it’s also since been revealed that the cover artist (Sroop Sunar) has also completely re-designed all of Rushdie’s previous covers too!
What do you think of these new covers? And are you excited for Rushdie’s new novel to be released, or not really bothered?
Let me know in the comments….
