SMOKE AND ASHES

Ghosh unravels the impact of the opium trade on global history and in his own family—the climax of a years long project.When Amitav Ghosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels the Ibis trilogy ten years ago he was startled to learn how the lives of the nineteenth-century sailors and soldiers he wrote about were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean but also by the precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising of all ho...See More