Victory City

Before we consider Salman Rushdie’s new novel, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on the dreadful, violent, and public attack on him last year. Incredibly, this act of terror did not deter his heart, although the physical repercussions remain terrible: Rushdie lost an eye and the use of a hand. And yet, still, here we have Victory City – a title released mere months after his hospital stay, which is both optimistic and wonderfully grandiose. The themes of this novel are fantastical, yet it is also clearly a story about how power is oh so fleeting, but stories – good stories, kind stories – remain with us.

Victory City is the epic account of Pampa Kampana’s 250-year life, which begins in 14th-century India. After witnessing the suicide of her mother, the grief-stricken young Pampa Kampana becomes a receptacle for the goddess Parvati. Granting her powers beyond Pampa’s comprehension (women’s equality, for example), the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga, which means ‘victory city’ – the new wonder of the modern world. With the stage set, we follow Pampa through battles, questions of leadership and mythology, and we discover that fate – hubris – is always our undoing.

This novel is disguised as a translation – a reckoning, even – of a long verse created by Pampa Kampana to guide the human spirit. All our human trials, tribulations, and follies are recorded in this verse. The pages are found buried amid the ruins of a broken and discarded palace – like treasures, the words are hidden until they are needed.

This novel is for all that understand that mythology is the perfect means of illustrating creation. This novel will be (eagerly) read by Rushdie’s fans, but it is also for those readers that want to take time out from their daily life and to head to a timeless space where anything is possible.