River of Smoke (R/J)

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.