"Dazzling . . . Modern thriller, Ramayan epic, courtroom drama,
slapstick comedy, wartime adventure, political satire, village
legend--they're all blended here magnificently."--The Washington Post
Book World
**
"Absorbing . . . Everywhere [Rushdie] takes us there is both love and
war, in strange and terrifying combinations, painted in swaying,
swirling, world-eating prose that annihilates the borders between East
and West, love and hate, private lives and the history they
make."--Time**
This is the story of Maximilian Ophuls, America' s counterterrorism
chief, one of the makers of the modern world; his Kashmiri Muslim driver
and subsequent killer, a mysterious figure who calls himself Shalimar
the clown; Max's illegitimate daughter India; and a woman who links
them, whose revelation finally explains them all. It is an epic
narrative that moves from California to Kashmir, France, and England,
and back to California again. Along the way there are tales of
princesses lured from their homes by demons, legends of kings forced to
defend their kingdoms against evil. And there is always love, gained and
lost, uncommonly beautiful and mortally dangerous.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: *The Washington Post Book
World, Time, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Chicago Tribune, St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, The Christian Science Monitor Rocky Mountain News
*