FLOOD OF FIRE, an epic and sweeping story, is a richly populated novel, imbued with a wealth of historical detail, suffused with the magic of place, and plotted with verve. It is a beautiful novel.

In Amitav Ghosh's SEA OF POPPIES, the Ibis began its treacherous journey across the Indian Ocean, bound for the cane fields of Mauritius with a cargo of indentured servants. Now, in RIVER OF SMOKE, the former slave ship flounders in the Bay of Bengal, caught in the midst of a deadly cyclone.

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.