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Sign up todayMidnight’s Children - Abridged
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Learn more'Radio drama of the year' - Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph
Nikesh Patel stars as Saleem in BBC Radio 4’s epic dramatisation of Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel of love, history and magic
Saleem Sinai is born on the stroke of midnight on 14th-15th August 1947, at the exact moment that India and Pakistan become separate, independent nations. From that moment on, his fate is mysteriously handcuffed to the history of his country.
But Saleem’s story starts almost thirty years earlier, when his grandfather, Dr Aadam Aziz, falls in love with a woman concealed behind a perforated sheet. That pivotal moment in Kashmir in 1919 sparks a series of bizarre events that will lead to a cryptic prophecy and the birth of a boy with an extraordinary destiny.
As a ‘Midnight’s Child’, Saleem has magical powers, and can telepathically tune in to all the other gifted children whose birth coincided with India’s division. However, his strange entanglement with the fate of India will have dramatic repercussions for both him and his country…
Adapted by Ayeesha Menon, this dazzling dramatisation of Rushdie’s many-layered, magical realist masterpiece is both an enthralling family saga and a riveting history of post-colonialism. First broadcast to mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India, it features Nikesh Patel as Saleem, with a star cast including Abhin Galeya, Meera Syal, Anneika Rose and Narinder Samra.
Also included is an interview with Salman Rushdie, in which the author talks to radio drama director Emma Harding about his multi-award winning novel.
Midnight's Children won the Booker Prize in 1981, and was subsequently awarded the 'Booker of Bookers' prize in 1993 and 'The Best of the Booker' prize in 2008.
Salman Rushdie (Author)
Salman Rushdie is the author of sixteen novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.
Meera Syal (Reader)
Meera Syal, CBE, is one of our most acclaimed actors and writers of stage and screen. She starred in the hit series The Kumars at No. 42 and recently in the BBC film of David Walliams' The Boy in the Dress. She is currently in David Hare's play Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, and in the latest series of Broadchurch. Meera is also known for her funny, sharp and provocative fiction. Her two earlier novels are Anita and Me (a national curriculum set text) and Life Isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee. The House of Hidden Mothers is her long-awaited third novel.
Salman Rushdie (Author)
Salman Rushdie is the author of sixteen novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.
Meera Syal (Reader)
Meera Syal, CBE, is one of our most acclaimed actors and writers of stage and screen. She starred in the hit series The Kumars at No. 42 and recently in the BBC film of David Walliams' The Boy in the Dress. She is currently in David Hare's play Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, and in the latest series of Broadchurch. Meera is also known for her funny, sharp and provocative fiction. Her two earlier novels are Anita and Me (a national curriculum set text) and Life Isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee. The House of Hidden Mothers is her long-awaited third novel.
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Audiobook details
Author:
Salman Rushdie
Narrators:
Meera Syal, Full Cast, Anneika Rose, Preeya Kalidas, Aysha Kala & Nikesh Patel
ISBN:
9781785297663
Length:
4 hours 54 minutes
Language:
English
Publisher:
BBC Audio
Publication date:
September 14, 2017
Edition:
Abridged
Libro.fm rank:
#47,277 Overall
Genre rank:
#179 in Performance