"Set in India at the beginning of the first Opium War, this book is as potent and engulfing as the mighty Ganges that flows through it; and if you let it, it will carry you to far and fascinating places.
Written in the fast patois of lascar sailors and full of rich textural detail, you'll feel like you're living in the age of the British empire. You'll want to follow these characters anywhere—and eat lots of Indian food along the way.
And you're in luck: the third book of the Ibis trilogy comes out soon. I promise you, once you read Sea of Poppies you won't be able to wait."
"I love, love, love this book. This is a tale of coolies, cross-dressing merchants, stowaways and sailors on a boat sent from India to China during the Opium Wars. The passengers on the ship make themselves into a family of sorts, and in the times of upheaval that follow the journey they follow strange new paths with only each other to rely upon. After I finished the book, I learned that it's the first part of a trilogy—and I'm thrilled that I can keep following this story!"
Publisher Picador
Publication Date 2009-09-29
Section Fiction / Paperback Favorites / All Staff Suggestions / Fiction Suggestions / Archived Staff Suggestions / Kai F. / Megan S.
Format Paperback
ISBN 9780312428594
The first in an epic trilogy, 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).
