Indian trilogy writer strikes 'black gold'

Indian writer Amitav Ghosh's novels sometimes read like an encyclopedia. His newest, River of Smoke (John Murray) - the much-anticipated second installment of a projected three-volume opus - could, just as well, be read as a scholarly discourse on the life and times of mid-19th century Cantonese society.

The book comes with a huge cast of real-life and fictional characters - tycoons, government officials, journalists, horticulturists, artists, pimps, smugglers and fugitives.

Set largely in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1838-1839 - following the events leading up to the first Opium War - the book, apart from focusing on the obvious drama of the British traders' resistance to the imperial edict banning the import of opium in China, also takes up other subplots.