Just before dawn one winters morning, a hijacked aeroplane blows apart high above the English Channel and two figures tumble, clutched in an embrace, towards the sea: Gibreel Farishta, Indias legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices.

Washed up, alive, on an English beach, their survival is a miracle. But there is a price to pay. Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen as opponents in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. But chosen by whom? And which is which? And what will be the outcome of their final confrontation?

Sir Salman Rushdiehas received many awards for his writing, including the European Unions Aristeion Prize for Literature. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1993Midnights Childrenwas judged to be the Booker of Bookers, the best novel to have won the Booker Prize in its first 25 years. In June 2007 he received a knighthood in the Queens Birthday Honours.

One of the most controversial and infamous books of modern times