The worldwide popular author and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie presents the epic story of a lady who creates a fanciful empire only to be eaten by it over the generations. A young girl of nine years old experiences a divine encounter that will alter the course of history following a minor conflict between two long-forgotten kingdoms in southern India in the fourteenth century. After seeing her mother die, Pampa Kampana, who is devastated, turns into a conduit for the goddess Parvati, who starts speaking out of the girl's mouth. The goddess bestows to Pampa Kampana abilities beyond comprehension and tells her that she will play a crucial role in the development of Bisnaga, which means "victory city" and is considered to be a marvel of the world. Over ther next two hundred and fifty years, Pampa Kampana's life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga's, from its literal sowing out of a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power. Whispering Bisnaga and its citizens into existence, Pampa Kampana attempts to make good on the task that Parvati set for her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. As years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, the very fabric of Bisnaga becomes an ever more complex tapestry - with Pampa Kampana at its centre. Brilliantly styled as a translation of an ancient epic, this is a saga of love, adventure and myth that is in itself a testament to the power of storytelling.