Description
'India has produced a great novelist...a master of perpetual storytelling' V.S. Pritchett, New Yorker
Born at the stroke of midnight, at the precise moment of India's independence, Saleem Sinai is destined from birth to be special. For he is one of 1,001 children born in the midnight hour, children who all have special gifts, children with whom Saleem is telepathically linked.
But there has been a terrible mix up at birth, and Saleem's life takes some unexpected twists and turns. As he grows up amidst a whirlwind of triumphs and disasters, Saleem must learn the ominous consequences of his gift, for the course of his life is inseparably linked to that of his motherland, and his every act is mirrored and magnified in the events that shape the newborn nation of India.
It is a great gift, and a terrible burden.
'India has produced a great novelist...a master of perpetual storytelling' V.S. Pritchett, New Yorker
About the Author
Salman Rushdie is the author of eight novels, one collection of short stories, and four works of non-fiction, and the co-editor of The Vintage Book of Indian Writing. 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. The Moor's Last Sigh won the Whitbread Prize in 1995, and the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature in 1996. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.
Reviews
A wonderful, rich and humane novel that is safe to call a classic. * Guardian *
Midnight's Children is also full of such zest for every messy aspect of life that you can't help but feel inspired * Guardian *
Rushdie's novel took a post-colonial "empire fights back" spirit, and a deep personal understanding of the politics of Indian partition, and exploded them into something teeming with imaginative life... He inhabits a hybrid consciousness, with a telepathic connection to the other children of midnight, and tells its stories for all he is worth. * Observer *
The extraordinary alchemy of Midnight's Children was its miraculous fusion of the fantastical and the historical. * Evening Standard *
A magical-realist reflection of the issues India faced post-independence including culture, language, religion, and politics... It's a truly incredible work. * Verdict *
Awards
Winner of Booker of Bookers 1993 and James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Fiction) 1981 and Booker Prize for Fiction 1981. Runner-up for The BBC Big Read Top 100 2003. Short-listed for Best of the Booker 2008 and BBC Big Read Top 100 2003.
Book Information
ISBN 9780099578512
Author Salman Rushdie
Format Paperback
Page Count 672
Imprint Vintage
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 484g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 35mm
