'An acerbic, compelling and always accessible account of how opium corrupted the world' TLS'The writing is sublime, the research thorough, the eye for story superb' Sunday TelegraphWhen AmitavGhosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels the Ibis Trilogy, he was startled to find how the lives of the 19th century sailors and soldiers he wrote of were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean, but also by the precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising of all, however, was the discovery that his own identity and family history was swept up in the story.Smoke and Ashes is at once a travelogue, memoir and a history, drawing on decades of archival research. In it, Ghosh traces the transformative effect the opium trade had on Britain, India, and China, as well as the world at large.The trade was engineered by the British Empire, which exported Indian opium to sell to China and redress their great trade imbalance, and
The first in an epic trilogy, Sea of Poppiesis "a remarkably rich saga . . . which has plenty of action and adventureà la Dumas, but moments also of Tolstoyan penetration--and a drop
From Victorian lndia to near-future New York, The Calcutta Chromosome takes readers on a wondrous journey through time as a computer programmer trapped in a mind-numbing job hits upon a curious item
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2008A Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2008A Washington Post Best Book of 2008An Economist Best Book of 2008A New York Best Book of 2008A Christian Science Monitor
The thrilling climax to the Ibis trilogy that began with the phenomenal Booker-shortlisted Sea of Poppies. It is 1839 and tension has been rapidly mounting between China and British India following th
From the award-winning author of the bestselling epic Ibis trilogy comes a globetrotting, folkloric adventure novel about family and heritageBundook. Gun. A common word, but one that turns Deen Datta’
A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book for 2011The Ibis, loaded to its gunwales with a cargo of indentured servants, is in the grip of a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal; among the dozens flailing for sur
