Sea of Poppies

Amitav Ghosh · b. 1956 · India

Why it matters

On the eve of the First Opium War, an indentured widow, a bankrupt raja, a mixed-race sailor, and a runaway all converge aboard the ship Ibis, bound from Calcutta to Mauritius. The first, most maximalist volume of Ghosh's Ibis trilogy.

At a glance

A vast ensemble cast and dense period argot, Lascari slang folded into Bhojpuri-inflected English, slow the opening chapters.