Flood of Fire: From bestselling author and winner of the 2018 Jnanpith Award
Set in 1839, as Britain readies itself to force open Chinese trade routes blockaded by Beijing, Amitav Ghosh's novel pulls together a cast of characters whose fates are bound up in the coming conflict. Zachary Reid, a young sailor down on his luck in Calcutta, nurses memories of a lost love whilst scheming for a better future. Havildar Kesri marches towards that same city to lead Indian volunteers into a war not of their making. In Mumbai, the quietly determined Shireen Modi boards a ship alone, bound for China to recover what her late opium-trader husband left behind. Meanwhile, in Canton, Neel works as an interpreter for a senior Chinese official and grows increasingly uneasy. The closer he gets to power, the clearer it becomes that China's ships and artillery are no match for British firepower. The outcome feels inevitable, but does anyone in Beijing truly grasp what's coming? Winner of the 2018 Jnanpith Award, Ghosh brings considerable historical depth to the story without ever letting the research weigh down the pace. Readers have praised its vivid period detail (the New York Times Book Review noted how readily one surrenders to it), and it's easy to see why. This is storytelling with real momentum, driven by characters who feel grounded and human rather than decorative. A richly satisfying conclusion to the Ibis trilogy.
- Author: Amitav Ghosh
- Publisher: Penguin
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality
- ISBN: 978-0143426127
- Pages: 632 pages