The acclaimed author’s new work features interconnected novellas and short stories
New York — Salman Rushdie will publish his first work of fiction since being brutally stabbed and hospitalized in 2022. His upcoming book, The Eleventh Hour, is a collection of novellas and short stories set for release on November 4, according to an announcement by Random House on Thursday.
Described by the publisher as “five interlinked stories and novellas that explore the eternal mysteries of the eleventh hour of life,” the book introduces a range of “unforgettable characters.” These include a “musical prodigy with a magical gift,” the ghost of a Cambridge don aiding a student in seeking revenge on a lifelong tormentor, and a literary mentor who dies under mysterious circumstances. The Eleventh Hour unfolds across India, England, and the U.S., reflecting the three places Salman Rushdie has called home.
Themes of mortality, memory, and literary influences
Salman Rushdie, 77, shared that the novellas in the collection were all written in the past year and reflect themes that have been deeply on his mind—mortality, farewells, and cultural landscapes spanning Bombay, England, and America.
“The three novellas in this volume, all written in the last 12 months, explore themes and places that have been much on my mind — mortality, Bombay, farewells, England, anger, peace, America. And Goya and Kafka and Bosch as well,” Rushdie said in a statement via Random House.
He also expressed hope that readers would appreciate how the five stories, though distinct in setting and style, form a cohesive literary conversation.
“I have come to think of the quintet as a single work, and I hope readers may see and enjoy it in the same way.”
A return to fiction after a brutal attack
Salman Rushdie is best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight’s Children, as well as works such as Shame, The Moor’s Last Sigh, and Victory City, the latter of which he completed just before the 2022 attack at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.
Earlier this year, he returned to the area to testify in the trial against his attacker, Hadi Matar, who was found guilty of assault and attempted murder in February. Matar now faces up to 25 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for April 23.
Rushdie’s memoir about the attack, Knife, was released last year and became a finalist for the National Book Award. He has since spoken about fiction as a marker of his recovery and creative resurgence, recalling how past traumas—including the 1989 fatwa issued over The Satanic Verses—shaped his literary journey.
Regaining creative strength
During a 2024 interview with The Associated Press, Rushdie admitted that he initially struggled to return to fiction after the attack.
“I didn’t want to write this book,” he said of Knife. “I actually wanted to get back to fiction, and I tried, but it just seemed stupid. I just thought, ‘Look, something very big happened to you.’”
With The Eleventh Hour, Rushdie marks his return to storytelling, signaling a new chapter in his literary legacy.
