Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

Synopsis :

 On an old slaving ship named the Ibis, fate has thrown together a motley crew of sailors, coolies and convicts, including a bankrupt raja, a French runaway and a widowed opium farmer.

 As their old family ties are washed away, they come to view themselves as Jahaj-bhais or ship-brothers.  Set against the backdrop for the Opium Wars, this unlikely dynasty is what makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive - a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists.

I would describe Sea of Poppies is a different book and it's difference made it good.  I quite like the earlier book by the same author that I read something mid of last year and likewise, that book was very different too.

Sea of Poppies was intended as the first book of a trilogy.  However, I am not sure if the author moved on to write book two and three.  As a story on it's own, it was still quite entertaining.  It started with the  individual stories of the many characters who ended up on the ship Ibis and how they ended up there. From a widow running away from her dead husband's families, a raja who is now a prisoner, a French girl who is running away to find a new life and the officers of the ship itself who has stories of his own.

Due to it's uniqueness I certainly would recommend this title to you.  On the other hand, I certainly would not mind checking other titles if I come across them in the future.

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