Overview
- Jonathan Cape published the collection on 4 November at £18.99, drawing immediate reviews from major UK outlets.
- Critics praise Rushdie’s imaginative energy while noting uneven execution, citing a didactic tone in “The Old Man in the Piazza.”
- The book comprises five stories, two previously published, moving between England, the United States and India.
- Standout pieces highlighted by reviewers include “Late,” an almost novella-length campus ghost story, and “The Musician of Kahani,” the longest tale that satirises contemporary India.
- Beyond mortality, the stories revisit Rushdie’s long-running concerns with identity, migration, myth, freedom of speech and the writer’s search for truth.