"**Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024** A gripping account of survival and recovery from internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize-winner Salman Rushdie ‘A masterpiece… Extraordinary’ Daily Telegraph ‘A story of hatred defeated by love’ Guardian On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was sitting onstage in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are. What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey of healing and recovery. This an intimate meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, INDEPENDENT, EVENING STANDARD, NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER AND TIME ‘An incandescent book about love and hard-won survival’ The Times ‘Salman Rushdie is a genius… A brave book by a brave man’ Evening Standard ‘Gripping… It reminds us of the things worth fighting for’ New York Times No.1 Sunday Times bestseller, April 2024"