River of Smoke: A Historical Novel Set in the Opium Trade Era

Description

Published in 2011, River Of Smoke is a literary novel and the second book in the Ibis Trilogy by author Amitav Ghosh. Set in 1838, the ship Ibis carries convicts and indentured laborers across the Indian Ocean. Two of the convicts escape and travel to Canton (now known as the city of Guangzhou in China) where they attempt to join the opium trade. Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956 and is now one of India’s most well-known authors. This novel was listed as one of the best historical novels of the year by NPR.
As the novel opens, a cyclone rages in the Bay of Bengal, where three ships are converging on Canton. One, the Anahita, carries the largest consignment of Opium ever to come to the city from India. One ship carries “Fitcher” Penrose, a horticulturist who wants to study China’s medicinal plants. The third ship, the Ibis, carries indentured servants.
Among those fighting for their lives on the Ibis are Deeti, a widowed poppy grower, and her lover, Kalua. Deeti is a returning character from the first book of the trilogy, Sea of Poppies. Now the matriarch of a large family, she is fleeing her homeland because she is pregnant with Kalua’s child. They secure a lifeboat and escape from the Ibis with several others, including Ah Fatt, the son of a Canton opium merchant, and Neel, a raja who has been convicted of embezzlement.

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