Gibreel Farishta, a legendary Indian movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices, fall earthward from a bombed jet toward the sea, singing rival verses in an eternal wrestling match between good and evil. Reprint. 20,000 first printing. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • "[A] torrent of endlessly inventive prose, by turns comic and enraged, embracing life in all its contradictions. In this spectacular novel, verbal pyrotechnics barely outshine its psychological truths."-NewsdayWinner of the Whitbread PrizeOne of the most controversial and acclaimed novels ever written, The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's best-known and most galvanizing book. Set in a modern world filled with both mayhem and miracles, the story begins with a bang: the terrorist bombing of a London-bound jet in midflight. Two Indian actors of opposing sensibilities fall to earth, transformed into living symbols of what is angelic and evil. This is just the initial act in a magnificent odyssey that seamlessly merges the actual with the imagined. A book whose importance is eclipsed only by its quality, The Satanic Verses is a key work of our times.Praise for The Satanic Verses"Rushdie is a storyteller of prodigious powers, able to conjure up whole geographies, causalities, climates, creatures, customs, out of thin air."-The New York Times Book Review"Exhilarating, populous, loquacious, sometimes hilarious, extraordinary . . . a roller-coaster ride over a vast landscape of the imagination."-The Guardian (London)"A novel of metamorphoses, hauntings, memories, hallucinations, revelations, advertising jingles, and jokes. Rushdie has the power of description, and we succumb."-The Times (London) The Angel Gibreel 1(90) Mahound 91(40) Ellowen Deeowen 131(78) Ayesha 209(40) A City Visible but Unseen 249(120) Return to Jahilia 369(40) The Angel Azraeel 409(76) The Parting of the Arabian Sea 485(38) A Wonderful Lamp 523