THE SATANIC VERSES

"Just before dawn one winter's morning, a hijacked jumbo jet blows apart high above the English Channel. Through the debris of limbs, drinks trolleys, memories, blankets, and oxygen masks, two figures fall towards the sea: Gibreel Faishta, India's legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices. Clinging to each other, singing rival songs, they plunge downward, and are finally washed up, alive, on the snow-covered sands of an English beach. Their survival is a miracle, but an ambiguous one. Gibreel acquires a halo, while, to his dismay, Saladin's legs grow hairier, his feet turn into hooves, and hornlike appendages appear at his temples. Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen (by whom?) as opponents in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. But which is which? As the two men tumble through time and space towards their final confrontation, we are witness to a cycle of tales of love and passion, betrayal and faith."--Cover.