Night of the Golden Butterfly
Completing an epic panorama that began in fifteenth-century Moorish Spain, Night of the Golden Butterfly moves between the cities of the twenty- first century, from Lahore to London, from Paris to Beijing. The narrator is rung one morning and reminded that he owes a debt of honor. The creditor is Mohammed Aflatun—known as Plato—an irascible but gifted painter living in a Pakistan where “human dignity has become a wreckage.” Plato, who once specialized in stepping back into the limelight, now wants his life story written.
As the tale unravels we meet Plato’s London friend Alice Stepford, now a leading music critic in New York; Mrs. “Naughty” Latif, the Islamabad housewife whose fondness for generals forces her to flee to the salons of intellectually fashionable Paris; and there’s Jindie, the Golden Butterfly of the title, the narrator’s first love. Interwoven with this chronicle of contemporary life is the turbulent history of Jindie’s family. Her great forebear, Dù Wénxiù, led a Muslim rebellion in Yunnan in the nineteenth century and ruled the region for almost a decade, as Sultan Suleiman. Night of the Golden Butterfly reveals Ali in full flight, at once imaginative and intelligent, satirical and stimulating.
Paperback, 288 pages
ISBN: 9781844676545
October 2010
$15.95 / £7.99
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Other Editions
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Hardback, 288 pages
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ISBN: 9781844676118
April 2010
$23.95 / £14.99
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Part of the The Islam Quintet series
Reviews
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Ali spins metaphors, re-establishes certain truths, shines a light on issues shrouded in ignorance. He enthralls, entertains, instructs. This is high art.
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A richly woven tapestry that merits comparison with Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy.
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Tales of anguish, longing, lust, and love … Ali paints a vivid picture of a fading world.
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Grippingly well told, brilliantly paced … a narrative for our time.
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If Pakistan is a land of untold stories, whispered conspiracy theories and closed-door mutinies, then thank heavens for Tariq Ali, whose access to its innermost secret chambers has made him the country’s finest historian and critic.
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All human frailty and nobility is here—an imaginative tour de force.
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Ali has satisfyingly and entertainingly concluded his Islam Quintet, a brilliant project unearthing the intellectual, sexual, artistic, and political histories heretofore kept out of mainstream conversation by both conservative Islamists and their former allies, and current enemies, in the West.
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Ali pays perfect attention to detail, reminding the reader of the merits of Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy. Whether describing the bonds of friendship, the sights and sounds of Lahore or the state of Fatherland in the throes of a military dictatorship, the writer's grip on detail never slackens.
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Offers great insight into the history and culture of the Muslim world.
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Wonderfully exuberant and mischievous… [a] jewel box of a novel.
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A novelist of distinction ... Ali offers a persuasive account of the corruption of contemporary Pakistan, especially the brutal sexual politics, and his wry, ruminative account of lifelong friendship rings with truth.
Blog
Tariq Ali in Australia and New Zealand
Tariq Ali gave three talks at the Perth Writers Festival: 'The Democracy Debate,' a reading of the final book in the Islam Quintet Night of the Golden Butterfly and The Obama Syndrome lecture, presented by SlowTV
Vancouver’s Georgia Straight reviews Night of the Golden Butterfly
Charles Demers has reviewed Tariq Ali's Night of the Golden Butterfly—the concluding novel in the acclaimed Islam Quintet—for Vancouver's Georgia Straight, opening with the tale of Edward Said's encouragement of the project.
“What needs to be said isn’t being said”—Tariq Ali interviewed for the Karachi Herald
Read the full text of Razeshta Sethna's interview with Tariq Ali for the Karachi Herald in which the author talks about his now complete Islam Quintet and the experience of writing fiction ...
Discussions
Begin a discussionOther books by Tariq Ali
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Kashmir: The Case for Freedom
Leading international voices condemn the brutalities of the Kashmir occupation.by Arundhati Roy, Pankaj Mishra, et al.
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The Obama Syndrome
by Tariq Ali
A prescient dissection of Obama’s overseas escalation and domestic retreat, fully updated.
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The Protocols of the Elders of Sodom
Provocative and witty essays on the giants of world literature.by Tariq Ali
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Pirates of the Caribbean
by Tariq Ali
Fully updated edition of this fiery polemic on Latin America’s challenge to US-led neoliberalism.
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A Sultan in Palermo
by Tariq Ali
Set in medieval Palermo, this is the fourth novel in Tariq Ali's celebrated Islam Quintet.
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Rough Music
by Tariq Ali
A seething report on the explosive state of affairs in Britain, after Blair's alliance with Bush.
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Street-Fighting Years
by Tariq Ali
One of the world's best-known radicals relives the early years of the protest movement.
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Bush in Babylon
by Tariq Ali
The bestselling history of the resistance in Iraq that vitalized the antiwar movement, fully updated.
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The Clash of Fundamentalisms
by Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali dissects both Islamic and Western fundamentalism.
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The Stone Woman
by Tariq Ali
"Ali spins a web of tales that is as inventive and fantastical as the Arabian nights."—The Times
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Masters of the Universe?
Edited by Tariq Ali
Distinguished dissidents oppose NATO’s war in the Balkans.
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The Book of Saladin
by Tariq Ali
A rich and teeming chronicle set in Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem.
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Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree
by Tariq Ali
“An enthralling story, unraveled with thrift and verve.”—Independent