Completing an epic panorama that began in fifteenth-century Moorish Spain, Night of the Golden Butterfly moves between the cities of the twentyfirst century, from Lahore to London, from Paris to Beijing. The narrator is rung one morning and reminded that he owes a debt of honor. The creditor is Mohammed Aflatunknown as Platoan irascible but gifted painter living in a Pakistan where human dignity has become a wreckage. Plato, who once specialized in stepping back into the limelight, now wants his life story written. As the tale unravels we meet Platos London friend Alice Stepford, now a leading music critic in New York; Mrs. Naughty Latif, the Islamabad housewife whose fondness for generals forces her to flee to the salons of intellectually fashionable Paris; and theres Jindie, the Golden Butterfly of the title, the narrators first love. Interwoven with this chronicle of contemporary life is the turbulent history of Jindies family. Her great forebear, Dù Wénxiù, 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.
