The
iconic masterpiece of India that introduced the world to “a
glittering novelist—one with startling imaginative and intellectual
resources, a master of perpetual storytelling” (The New Yorker)
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of
all time • The fortieth anniversary edition, featuring a new
introduction by the author
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947,
the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks
displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem
grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His
every act is mirrored and magnified in events that sway the course of
national affairs; his health and well-being are inextricably bound to
those of his nation; his life is inseparable, at times
indistinguishable, from the history of his country. Perhaps most
remarkable are the telepathic powers linking him with India’s 1,000
other “midnight’s children,” all born in that initial hour and
endowed with magical gifts.
This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing
evocation of a vast land and its people–a brilliant incarnation of
the universal human comedy. Forty years after its publication,
Midnight’s Children stands apart as both an epochal work of
fiction and a brilliant performance by one of the great literary
voices of our time.