A woman who suffers a horrifying childhood trauma is transformed into the creator of a city, buildings and denizens alike. Who else but Salman Rushdie has the imagination required to create this woman, who has an almost endless imagination? Rushdie is a modern, male Scheherazade, spinning his fanciful tales of romance, religion, politics, and corruption, with dollops of laugh-out-loud humor and magical realism.
Victory City by Salman Rushdie, (List Price: $30, Random House, 9780593243398, February 2023)
Reviewed by Anne Peck, Righton Books in St Simons Island, Georgia