River of Smoke

Description

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of Year
A NPR Best Book of the Year

In Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies, the Ibis began its treacherous journey across the Indian Ocean, bound for the cane fields of Mauritius with a cargo of indentured servants. Now, in River of Smoke, the former slave ship flounders in the Bay of Bengal, caught in the midst of a deadly cyclone.

The storm also threatens the clipper ship Anahita, groaning with the largest consignment of opium ever to leave India for Canton. Meanwhile, the Redruth, a nursery ship, carries horticulturists determined to track down the priceless botanical treasures of China. All will converge in Canton's Fanqui-town, or Foreign Enclave, a powder keg awaiting a spark to ignite the Opium Wars. A spectacular adventure, but also a bold indictment of global avarice, River of Smoke is a consuming historical novel with powerful contemporary resonance.

Product Details

Price

$24.00 $22.32

Publisher

Picador USA

Publish Date

October 02, 2012

Pages

528

Dimensions

5.7 X 8.9 X 0.8 inches | 0.7 pounds

Language

English

Type

Paperback

EAN/UPC

9781250013750

BISAC Categories:

World Literature - India - 21st Century

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About the Author

AMITAV GHOSH is the internationally bestselling author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Glass Palace, The Great Derangement, and the Ibis Trilogy (Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire). He is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. Ghosh divides his time between Kolkata and Goa, India, and Brooklyn, New Yor

Reviews

"Brilliantly done...A monumental tribute to the pain and glory of an earlier era of globalization...There will be more, undoubtedly, when the final installment of the Ibis trilogy arrives. I can hardly bear to wait." --The Washington Post

"Gripping...Ghosh has made humanely clear the cold cynicism of the Opium Wars." --Richard Eder, The Boston Globe

"Ghosh continues to amaze. Few authors since Melville and Joyce have excelled at both rambunctious, rangy linguistic play and deeply and lovingly observed human insight like this." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Masterful...River of Smoke is a wonderful mixture of people, places, and story that captures a moment in history like an insect snared in amber." --Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Wonderful...[Gosh] is creating one of the best historical narratives in recent memory." --Time Out (New York)

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