Sea Of Poppies (R/J)

The first in an epic trilogy Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies is a remarkably rich saga . . . which has plenty of action and adventure à la Dumas but moments also of Tolstoyan penetration--and a drop or two of Dickensian sentiment (The Observer [London]).. At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship the Ibis. Her destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean shortly before the outbreak of the Opium Wars in China. In a time of colonial upheaval fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners on board from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman from a mulatto American freedman to a free-spirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away they like their historical counterparts come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais or ship-brothers. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges the rolling high seas and the exotic backstreets of Canton. . With a panorama of characters whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself Sea of Poppies is a storm-tossed adventure worthy of Sir Walter Scott (Vogue).