The Calcutta Chromosome

PRAISE FOR SEA OF POPPIES
'Sea of Poppies Boasts a varied collection of characters to love and hate, and provides wonderfully detailed descriptions of opium production ... utterly involving and piles on tension until the very last page'
'A glorious babel of a novel ... marvellously inventive ... utterly involving ... The next volume cannot come too soon'
'An utterly involving book'
'This is a panoramic adventure story, with a Dickensian energy and scope'
'Ghosh's narrative is enriched with a wealth of historical detail ... as well as intricate characterisation that makes interaction among the diverse group truly absorbing'
'There can be fewer more exciting settings for a novel than a sea-tossed sailing ship ... Ghosh piles detail upon detail in a rumbustical adventure'
'Ripping post-colonial yarn ... Ghosh spins a fine story with a quite irresistible flow, breathing exuberant life ... an absorbing vision'
'A remarkably rich saga'
'Each scene is boldly drawn, but it is the sheer energy and verve of Amitav Ghosh's storytelling that binds this ambitious medley'
This is a corker
Ghosh turns the ship into something robustly, bawdily and indelibly real . . . a plot of Dickensian intricacy
'A master of fiction'
'A richly drawn cast of characters ... gilded with expertly-mined historical detail'
'The fantastic Anglo-Asian language they speak is infectious, and the sombre yet uncertain conclusion leaves one eager for the second novel in the trilogy'
'A captivating cast ... Ghosh's saga is enriched with a blizzard of Laskari- and Hindi-derived words that add irrepressible energy to the narrative'
'Beautifully written, this totally absorbing novel will leave you eagerly awaiting a second instalment'
'...this first volume in a promise trilogy is a gem.'

Writer and anthropologist Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956 and spent his childhood in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and northern India. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Egypt, and has taught in various Indian and American universities. He is the author of three books: The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines and In An Antique Land and has written for The New Yorker, Granta, The New Republic and The New York Times. Mr. Ghosh and his wife, Deborah Baker, live in New York with their two children.