The Satanic Verses

Just before dawn one winter's morning, a hijacked aeroplane blows apart high above the English Channel and two figures tumble, clutched in an embrace, towards the sea: Gibreel Farishta, India's legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices.

A key novel of this century and one of the most controversial. Amid the myriad characters in this dream within fiction is one based on the prophet Muhammad, which throws him and his transcriptions of the Koran in a dubious light. As a result, the book was condemned by the Ayatollah Khomeini and Rushdie's execution demanded. Only in 1998 was the fatwa lifted, enabling the author to come out of hiding. (Kirkus UK)