Completing an epic panorama that began in fifteenth-century MoorishSpain, Night of the Golden Butterfly moves between the cities of the twenty-first century, from Lahore to London, from Paris to Beijing. The narrator isrung one morning and reminded that he owes a debt of honor. The creditoris Mohammed Aflatun--known as Plato--an irascible but gifted painterliving in a Pakistan where "human dignity has become a wreckage." Plato, who once specialized in stepping back into the limelight, now wants his lifestory written.As the tale unravels we meet Plato's London friend Alice Stepford, now aleading music critic in New York; Mrs. "Naughty" Latif, the Islamabadhousewife whose fondness for generals forces her to flee to the salons ofintellectually fashionable Paris; and there's Jindie, the Golden Butterfly of thetitle, the narrator's first love. Interwoven with this chronicle of contemporarylife is the turbulent history of Jindie's family. Her great forebear, Du Wenxiu, led a Muslim rebellion in Yunnan in the nineteenth century and ruled the region for almost a decade, as Sultan Suleiman. Night of the Golden Butterfly reveals Ali in full flight, at once imaginative and intelligent, satirical and stimulating
