Told in Salman Rushdie's unparalleled prose, this inventive and timely new novel follows a real-estate tycoon and his mysterious, powerful family. In scope and literary ambition, it's <i>The Great Gatsby </i>meets <i>The Bonfire of the Vanities</i> - a contemporary saga with wonderful, moving characters and a gripping story straight out of today's headlines, set against the panorama of American culture and politics since the inauguration of Barack Obama.