Riveting. Mukherjee has a substantive grasp of colonial Indian history, and his books have the feel of a modern-day and much more progressive Kipling, full of high intrigue and derring-do, yet overlaid with the day-to-day reality of a struggle with addiction." Mystery Tribune In Wyndham and Bannerjee, Mukherjee has created two appealing characters presenting different factions of the whole that is India, revealing what each gives up to serve king and country, and answers the question of which country each actually serves." New York Journal of Books Opium is such an important part of our economic history, but has almost been erased from our understanding of the world. It has left permanent marks on eastern and western India, in a very significant sense,” the author said on Thursday at the launch of his new book Smoke and Ashes: A writer’s journey through Opium’s hidden histories. He was in conversation with singer and activist T.M. Krishna. When Amitav Ghosh began his research for the Ibis Trilogy some twenty years ago, he was startled to find how the lives of the nineteenth-century sailors and soldiers he wrote of were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean, but also by a precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising of all was the discovery that his own identity and family history were swept up in the story.

Speaking about how the Opium Department operated in India under the British, as a “bureaucracy within a bureaucracy”, Mr Ghosh called the Purvanchal region, where much of the opium was produced, as a “kingdom within an empire” .

Amitav Ghosh says, “My new book, Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey Through Opium’s Hidden Histories, is based on the enormous quantities of material I accumulated while researching the trilogy of novels I wrote between 2005 and 2015. When I started writing the novels I thought they would be mainly about the transportation of indentured workers from India to Mauritius in the early nineteenth century. But in the course of my research, and much to my surprise, I stumbled upon a different trade in a precious commodity that was being carried in large quantities from India to China—opium! Ghosh, however, is careful to assure us that his vision of the future isn’t all doom and gloom. In fact, he is certain that this tragic history is a rallying cry for the climate activists of today. For one, it shows us that plants can have agency too, more powerful than we can comprehend. And, of course, it serves as a reminder that throughout history, even in the darkest of times, humanity has banded together to make amazing change for the better. “In the late 19th century, a huge anti-opium movement came together internationally and they were able to impose certain constraints on these massive European empires, which were actually more powerful than energy corporations are today,” he shares. “I think we can take some hope from that. That’s ultimately what being human is about—to recognise that you have a duty to keep on trying.” Also read:

Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial?India, 1921. Captain Sam Wyndham is battling a serious addiction to opium that he must keep secret from his superiors in the Calcutta police force. Once he started researching the subject of his Ibis trilogy — opium, Author Amitav Ghosh said that he realised the power certain myths acquire in silencing history. The third book in this marvelous British Raj series starts out with a bang. Abir Mukherjee is in the highest echelons of historical mystery/thriller writers." Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine She not only stayed alive, she turned her hard beginnings around, became self sufficient, successful and someone with respect for herself. She didn't let the naysayers and judgers stop her. She's the one sitting in the drivers seat at the end. HarperCollins India will be the first to publish Smoke and Ashes, in July, which is only appropriate because their editorial teams have given me huge and whole-hearted support throughout the writing of the book. I am very excited about the publication of the book!”

When Sam is summoned to investigate a grisly murder, he is stunned at the sight of the body: he’s seen this before. Last night, in a drug addled haze, he stumbled across a corpse with the same ritualistic injuries. It seems like there’s a deranged killer on the loose. Unfortunately for Sam, the corpse was in an opium den—and revealing his presence there could cost him his career. Smoke and Ashes perfectly balances high suspense with its well-researched historical setting, each element masterfully supporting the other." HistoricalNovels.info Smoke and Ashes is at once a travelogue, a memoir and an excursion into history, both economic and cultural. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. I believe this song to be about a person who has been perceived as exaggerated in character, put above there true feelings. "I've got a red hot heart and yours is as blue as the blood in your veins" One is willing to keep the fire going but the other is to proud to show their true self always putting on a show until "it's only smoke and ashes".Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part Smoke and Ashes is Abir Mukherjee’s best book yet; a brilliantly conceived murder mystery set amidst political and social turmoil. Beautifully crafted." C. J. Sansom Just listening for the 784,654th time....and it's just perfect in every way. Just incredible. The only reason it was remade was to scoop up a boatload of money from a more modern and accepting audience. But it is a completely different song than the other one that sounds slapped together in a few takes without a thought for the meaning. Smoke and Ashes is the story of how, under the aegis of the British Empire, India became the world’s largest producer of opium between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the different conditions under which opium was produced in various regions, with lasting effects for those areas. It also traces the transformative impact that the opium trade had on India, China, Britain and the United States, with profound long-term consequences for the birth of the modern world, and of contemporary globalism. Many of the world’s biggest corporations got their start in the colonial opium trade. But the opium economy also had significant effects at the microlevel, influencing migration and settlement patterns, and touching upon millions of lives, including those of my own forefathers.

The book is also a very personal look at Amitav Ghosh’s own engagement with opium’s hidden histories – this is at one level a writer’s memoir, with deep insights into the process of writing the Ibis Trilogy. A clever whodunit, well served by smart writing, a dry-witted narrator, and a vividly recreated, rich, and colourful setting." Historical Novels Review When Sam is summoned to investigate a grisly murder, he is stunned at the sight of the body: he’s seen this before. Last night, in a drug addled haze, he stumbled across a corpse with the same ritualistic injuries. It seems like there’s a deranged killer on the loose. Unfortunately for Sam, the corpse was in an opium den and revealing his presence there could cost him his career.

Amitav Ghosh’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages. He has been awarded and felicitated across the world. In 2019 Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the past decade. The same year, the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, was conferred on him: he was the first English-language writer to receive it.