Victory City

The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries – from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie

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 NEWSPAPER

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

Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Imprint: Vintage UK
Publication date: 07/05/2024