On July 15th, HarperCollins’ Fourth Estate will publish a book titled “Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey Through Opium’s Hidden Histories” by Amitav Ghosh. The book is a combination of a memoir, a travelogue, and a deep dive into the economic and cultural history of opium. Ghosh explains that the book is based on the vast amount of research he conducted while writing his trilogy of novels between 2005 and 2015. Overall, “Smoke and Ashes” explores the hidden and often overlooked aspects of opium’s impact on history and society.
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The book is also a very personal look at 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”, which comprises the novels “Sea of Poppies”, “River of Smoke” and “Flood of Fire”, the publishers said. “Smoke and Ashes” tells the story of how this common and deceptively humble plant has shaped the modern world, and the key part it is now playing in the unmaking of that world, he added.
Kolkata-born Ghosh grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. His other acclaimed works include “The Shadow Lines”, “The Glass Palace”, “The Hungry Tide”, “Gun Island”, “The Great Derangement”, “The Nutmeg’s Curse”, “Jungle Nama” and “The Living Mountain”. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2019, he became the first English-language writer to receive India’s highest literary honour – the Jnanpith Award.
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