<DIV><DIV><B>A <I>New York Times Book Review</I> Editors’ Choice<BR>A <I>Washington Post</I> Notable Fiction Book of Year<BR>A NPR Best Book of the Year</B></DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>In Amitav Ghosh's <I>Sea of Poppies</I>, 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 <I>River of Smoke</I>, the former slave ship flounders in the Bay of Bengal, caught in the midst of a deadly cyclone. The storm also threatens the clipper ship Anahita, groaning with the largest consignment of opium ever to leave India for Canton. Meanwhile, the Redruth, a nursery ship, carries horticulturists determined to track down the priceless botanical treasures of China. All will converge in Canton’s Fanqui-town, or Foreign Enclave, a powder keg awaiting a spark to ignite the Opium Wars. A spectacular adventure, but also a bold indictment of global avarice, <I>River of Smoke</I> is a consuming historical novel with powerful contemporary resonance. <BR></DIV></DIV>