GOLDEN HOUSE: A Novel

In a time of polarising extremes, can we find common ground? Will despots and their supporters be forever with us? Can story and art enlighten us? In this stylish novel, the literary genius Salman Rushdie captures the American zeitgeist on the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. An enigmatic billionaire from foreign shores takes up residence in the architectural jewel of 'the Gardens', a cloistered community in New York's Greenwich Village. The neighbourhood is a bubble within a bubble, and the residents are immediately intrigued by the eccentric newcomer and his family. Along with his improbable name, untraceable accent, and unmistakable whiff of danger, Nero Golden has brought along his three adult sons - agoraphobic, alcoholic Petya, a brilliant recluse with a tortured mind, Apu, the flamboyant artist, sexually and spiritually omnivorous, famous on 20 blocks, and D, at 22, the baby of the family, harbouring an explosive secret even from himself. There is no mother, no wife, not least until Vasilisa, a sleek Russian expat, snags the septuagenarian Nero, becoming the queen to his king, a queen in want of an heir. Our guide is their neighbour René, an ambitious young filmmaker who is researching a movie about the Goldens. He ingratiates himself into their household, seduced by their mystique, and is implicated in their quarrels, infidelities and indeed, their crimes. Meanwhile like a bad joke, a certain comic-book villain embarks on a crass presidential run that turns New York upside down. Set against the strange and exuberant backdrop of American culture and politics, this is a modern epic of love and terrorism, loss and reinvention. 380pp in 2017 US first edition, remainder mark.