博客來 世界最具爭議性作家之一，被伊朗懸賞百萬美金的作家－薩爾曼．魯西迪重回文壇奇幻大作
「我從沒有閱讀過這樣的作品！」－《時時刻刻》作者麥可‧康寧漢
14世紀，南印度區域，兩個已被遺忘的王朝之間的戰爭之中，9歲的Pampa Kampana親眼目擊母親葬身火堆之中，頓時成為孤兒的她，卻也因此成為女神Parbati的傳諭者，獲得從未想像過的神力。此後，在山洞中的苦行僧傳遞她智慧和一把種子，一把能夠種植出一個全新城市和人民的種子，這座城市將在Pampa帶領之下，成為一座偉大的城市，其名為Bisnaga－勝利之城。而Pampa則將這把種子，撒向了母親的墓地。
往後的250多年間，Pampa的生命與這座城市牢牢捆綁在一起。最初她寄望這座城市能夠維持和平美好，一如她從女神所得到的指示，在這個父權為尊的社會中，真正達到男女平等。然而，事物發展往往都會出乎創造者的意料，人心更是難以預料。多年來經歷掌權者的變更，一個個戰爭下的勝利與失敗，即便在Pampa的守護之下，勝利之城也漸漸地發展出屬於自己複雜的模樣⋯⋯
作者以真實的「勝利之城」以及南印度古王朝為底蘊，打造出全新的神話傳奇，反應史實的更迭，文化如何變遷，以及人心之間的複雜情愛。
(文／博客來外文館)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries—from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize–winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie
“A major accomplishment by one of our greatest living writers . . . It does not resemble any other novel I could name.”—Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hours
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: Time, The Washington Post, The Guardian, USA Today, The Tampa Bay Times, The Week, CNBC, Business Insider, Kirkus Reviews
In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga—“victory city”—the wonder of the world.
Over the next 250 years, Pampa Kampana’s life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga’s, from its literal sowing from a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power. Whispering Bisnaga and its citizens into existence, Pampa Kampana attempts to make good on the task that the goddess set for her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. As years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, the very fabric of Bisnaga becomes an ever more complex tapestry—with Pampa Kampana at its center.
Brilliantly styled as a translation of an ancient epic, Victory City is a saga of love, adventure, and myth that is in itself a testament to the power of storytelling.
