Golden House The: A Novel

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A modern American epic set against the panorama of contemporary politics and culture—a hurtling page-turning mystery that is equal parts The Great Gatsby and The Bonfire of the Vanities ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR PBS Harper’s Bazaar Esquire Financial Times The Times of India 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 neighborhood 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 twenty blocks; and D at twenty-two the baby of the family harboring an explosive secret even from himself. There is no mother no wife; at least not 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 to the Goldens’ world is their neighbor René an ambitious young filmmaker. Researching a movie about the Goldens he ingratiates himself into their household. Seduced by their mystique he is inevitably implicated in their quarrels their infidelities and indeed their crimes. Meanwhile like a bad joke a certain comic-book villain embarks upon a crass presidential run that turns New York upside-down. Set against the strange and exuberant backdrop of current American culture and politics The Golden House also marks Salman Rushdie’s triumphant and exciting return to realism. The result is a modern epic of love and terrorism loss and reinvention—a powerful timely story told with the daring and panache that make Salman Rushdie a force of light in our dark new age.