No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by The Satanic Verses. Furore aside, it is a marvellously erudite study of good and evil. The book begins with two Indians plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their airliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations.
Belfast 1939: Martha Goulding's world is shattered by a sudden death and the outbreak of war that leaves her family facing an uncertain future. Her daughters are talented singers who join a troupe of entertainers led by Goldstein, a Polish Jew, who is determined to raise morale and money for the war effort. But Martha is torn between allowing her girls to perform and keeping them safe from men, both in and out...
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