The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Book excerpt: "The first great rock ’n’ roll novel in the English language." --The Times On Valentine’s Day, 1989, Vina Apsara, a famous and much-loved singer, disappears in a devastating earthquake. Her lover, the singer Ormus Cama, cannot accept that he has lost her, and so begins his eternal quest to find her and bring her back. His journey takes him across the globe and through cities pulsating with the power of rock ’n’ roll, to Bombay, London and New York. But around the star-crossed lover and his quest, the uncertain world itself is beginning to tremble and break. Cracks and tears are appearing in the very fabric of reality, and exposing the abyss beyond. And Ormus has to confront just how far he is willing to go for love. In this epic romance that stretches across whole lives, and even beyond death, Salman Rushdie's most accessible novel is also a vivid account of the intimate, flawed encounter between East and West, a remaking of the myth of Orpheus, and an exploration of the extremities of comedy, culture and desire. The Ground Beneath Her Feet is a gripping story that encapsulates the history, dreams and passions of the last half century as no other novel has done.