River of Smoke
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.