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“If human nature were not a mystery, we’d have no need of poets.��

Without doubt, this is the best novel that Salman Rushdie has produced in a while. Rushdie uses the unsettled American political landscape �� this novel begins with the inauguration of Barack Obama and ends with the rise of ‘the Joker,�� a (very) thinly veiled portrait of Trump �� to great effect. He ties in the eight years of the 44th President to the ‘reign�� of Nero Golden, a seventy-something man, who arrives from an unknown location and moves into the ‘Golden House�� of the title; the place formerly known as the ‘Murray Mansion,�� before the occupants changed hands. The house, the grandest in the community, helps form a wealthy enclave in New York, with all of the rear yards of the properties crating an enclosed, communal garden, which is much loved by the residents.

One such resident is our narrator, Rene, who lives with his parents in one of the houses, and soon becomes obsessed with Nero Golden and his three sons; Petya, Apu and Dionysus (or simply ‘D��). Nero Golden has re-named his sons and carefully guards their family history and secrets. With speculation amongst his neighbours rife, gradually Rene befriends the residents of the Golden House, learns their secrets, watches their rise �� and spectacular fall �� and becomes involved in their lives, as they become linked with his.

Rene longs to be a film-maker and his subjects are to be the residents of the Golden House. Life, of course, is not static, and the arrival of women in the Golden men’s lives, changes the dynamics within the Golden House in many ways. Indeed, the family secrets, the intrigue, the relationships between the characters would undoubtedly make a block buster of a movie. Rushdie effortlessly weaves his characters, who take their names from myth and the ancient world, and combines this with the current political landscape, to create a riveting account of a young man’s awakening and his confusing relationships with those around him. An excellent novel, which would be perfect for reading groups, with so much to discuss. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.