River of Smoke
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| Author | Amitav Ghosh |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Series | Ibis trilogy |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Penguin Group |
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Publication date
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18 June 2011 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 557 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | 'Sea of Poppies' |
| Followed by | 'Flood of Fire' |
River of Smoke (2011) is a novel by Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh. It is the second volume of the Ibis trilogy.
The promotional text refers to the storyline which can be summarized as follows: After the incidents on Ibis, which was caught in a storm and eventually ended up in Mauritius, but with a few passengers less, the story help in this novel begins from where it left off. From the details of the changing lives and traditions of Indian migrants in Mauritius, the novel traces the fate of other characters from Ibis and describes the opium trade in China. The novel has a rich tapestry of characters from various cultural and geographical backgrounds whose common interest is trade with China. The plot is set in Fanqui town, a small strip of land used by foreigners to trade with local Chinese traders, a year before the first opium war.
In the year 1838, three ships are caught in a raging storm off the coast of Canton. The Anahita, owned by Bahram Modi, a Parsi opium trader from Bombay, the Redruth, owned by Fitcher Penrose, on an expedition to collect rare species of plants from China and the Ibis (from Sea of Poppies) carrying convicts and indentured labourers. The convicts Neel Rattan, a Bengali Zamindar and Ah Fatt a criminal from Canton, escape from the ship along with a couple of lascars.
The story traces the lives of these principal characters in Canton. Bahram Modi, a lowly son-in-law of a rich Parsi Ship builder Rustamjee Mistrie, convinces his father in law to provide him seed capital to enter into opium trade and carries out multiple successful expeditions to China and creates considerable wealth in the process for his in-laws. However, on the sudden demise of his father in law, he is forced by his brothers in law to retire from the Export division. Bahram decides to ship a large consignment of opium to China, as he is confident that he would be able to earn a sizeable profit to buy out the Export division, in spite of a ban on trading of Opium issued by the Chinese officials. Bahram also has a son (Ah Fat) through a Chinese boat woman, Chi Mei, unknown to his family back in Bombay.
Fitcher Penrose, a botanist, is on an expedition to China to collect rare plants. He is joined by Paulette Lambert aka Puggly, daughter of a French botanist, in his search for the rare Golden camellias. They are helped by Robin Chinnery, a fictional illiegitimate son of the English painter George Chinnery.
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