Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Salman Rushdie · b. 1947 · India / England

Why it matters

A boy sails to a moon of living stories to unstop his father's silenced voice, battling a villain bent on poisoning every tale into silence. Written the year after the fatwa, Rushdie's slyest defense of storytelling itself.

At a glance

A brisk, playful children's fable, though its free-speech allegory rewards adult readers too.