Show More truths and falsehoods, its obligations and privileges, exist only for the people who are linked by it, and then in such a way that only they can judge the honour and dishonour of how they conduct themselves in relation to each other. Oh, how I wish all historical fiction was like this! Highly recommended. Obviously a tremendous amount of research was done, but the author is able to breathe such life into this story that the reader is hardly aware of the learning aspect. By the use of various dialects he is able to show the variety of class differences that existed in British Empire. He vividly depicts the diverse, rich country of India as well as the stark beauty of an ocean voyage.

As officers, crew, coolies and prisoners they set out on a voyage that will change all their lives.īeautifully written, the author uses language as an art to paint a colourful backdrop to this story. In one way or another they all find themselves aboard the Ibis, a schooner that was originally built as a slaver, but now being used in the opium trade.

The story moves ever forward with the destiny of these characters to meet and mingle. So many characters, from the very good to the very bad. Show More courageous Deeti who has a core of inner strength that is astounding, to the comically strange Baboo Nob Kissin, who is slowly losing grip on reality while immersing himself in his wondrous new personality. 'Such is the power of Ghosh's precise, understated prose that one occasionally wishes to turn the pages three at a time, eager to find out where Ghosh's tale is headed.' - The Boston Globe … ( more) But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, that makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive - a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists. The vast sweep of this historical adventure embraces the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the crowded backstreets of Canton. An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races, and generations. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship brothers.

In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt Raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a free-spirited French orphan. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its purpose to fight China's vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. At the heart of this vibrant saga is an immense ship, the Ibis.

Sea of poppies series