<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>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</b> <p/><b>"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 <i>The Hours</i></b> <p/><b>ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: <i>Time, The Washington Post, The Guardian, USA Today, The Tampa Bay Times, The Week, </i>CNBC, <i>Business Insider, Kirkus Reviews</i></b> <p/>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. <p/>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