River of Smoke: A Novel

Amitav Ghosh

Sep 2011 · The Ibis Trilogy Book 2 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

Great story telling. Rich with historical references and atmosphere. The Ibis Trilogy is a TV series waiting to happen.

Not near as good as the first book. The author seemed much more determined to get all his historical research in and quoted than to make a good story. On the other hand I learned a great deal which I always enjoy. The author seemed to pound the same points into the book over and over.

I've been waiting for the sequal to Sea of Poppies since I finished it years ago... I thought i was going to love this book, but I think it had just been too long since I read SOP. Weird, because I loved so many of Ghosh's other books. This one just sort of dragged.

About the author

AMITAV GHOSH is the internationally bestselling author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Glass Palace, The Great Derangement, and the Ibis Trilogy (Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire). He is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes. Ghosh divides his time between Kolkata and Goa, India, and Brooklyn, New York.