In 1838 the British East India Company forces Bihar's farmers to grow opium for the China trade. Deeti, a village woman married to a sick opium-factory worker, escapes a terrible fate with the help of Kalua, a giant ox-cart driver of low caste, and the pair end up among the indentured labourers being shipped to Mauritius aboard a former slave ship, the Ibis.
The Ibis gathers a crowd of other refugees from their own lives: Zachary Reid, a mixed-race freedman from Baltimore passing as white; Neel Rattan Halder, a Bengali zamindar ruined by a British opium merchant; Paulette, a French orphan in disguise; and Jodu, her boyhood friend, along with lascars and a mysterious convict.
The first volume of the Ibis trilogy, the novel delights in language, filling its pages with ship's pidgin, Bhojpuri and Anglo-Indian slang, while exposing the brutality of the opium economy. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2008 and continues in River of Smoke and Flood of Fire.
Book details
| Author | Amitav Ghosh |
|---|---|
| First published | 2008 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 515 |
| Setting | Bihar, Calcutta and the Bay of Bengal, 1838 |
Themes
- Opium trade
- Indentured labour
- Caste and reinvention
- Colonial exploitation
- Solidarity
Who should read it
Readers who love seafaring adventure and rich historical detail about the opium trade.