"To be born again," sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, "first you have to die,” is the opening line of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. It foreshadows the events narrated in his latest book, Knife, which vividly details the murderous attack upon him in 2022 and the testing, arduous, precarious journey back from near death.

 Written with his characteristic resolve, optimism, humour and consummate craft, it is driven by his realisation that “Language, too, was a knife. It could cut open the world and reveal its meaning, its inner workings, its secrets, its truths. It could cut through from one reality to another. It could call bullshit, open people's eyes, create beauty. Language was my knife. If I had unexpectedly been caught in an unwanted knife fight, maybe this was the knife I could use to fight back. It could be the tool I would use to remake and reclaim my world, to rebuild the frame in which my picture of the world could once more hang on my wall, to take charge of what had happened to me, to own it, make it mine.”

 The 1989 fatwa against Rushdie has, despite his strenuous efforts, defined and constrained much of his life since. It has also amplified his advocacy of freedom of expression in the face of challenges from both ends of the political spectrum. “Art,” he proclaims “is not a luxury. It stands at the essence of our humanity, and it asks for no special protection except the right to exist. It accepts argument, criticism, even rejection. It does not accept violence. And in the end, it outlasts those who oppress it. The poet Ovid was exiled by Augustus Caesar, but the poetry of Ovid has outlasted the Roman Empire. The poet Mandelstam's life was ruined by Joseph Stalin, but his poetry has outlasted the Soviet Union. The poet Lorca was murdered by the thugs of General Franco, but his art has outlasted the fascism of the Falange.”

 Knife is also a tribute to the medical professionals, friends and family members, in particular his wife — the poet, novelist, photographer and visual artist, Rachel Eliza Griffiths — whose love, care, protection and steely determination propelled his recovery. It seeks too to comprehend the mindset and motives that lead his attacker, referred to only as “the A”, to plan and commit the heinous crime.

 Through the trauma of the long road to recovery, Rushdie is able to draw on artists, poets, writers, filmmakers, philosophers and friends that populate his world and his consciousness. Who populates your inner world?  Who or what will you be when all life’s trappings, all your abilities and skills, are severed from you? Who will unconditionally stay with you - in the real world, but equally in your memories and imagination, when those are all that’s left to you?