River of Smoke: The Ibis Trilogy

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.