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The Opium Clerk

The Opium Clerk

by KunalBasu (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2002

    $3.29
Synopsis

Kunal Basu's panoramic first novel follows the vagaries of Hiran's life, and the flow of the opium trade, from Calcutta to Canton. Disguised as a missionary, he survives cholera, piracy and war in China, arriving back in India to find his homeland on the verge of another rebellion. And he finds himself suddenly father to a half-caste son, the child abandoned by the Englishman and his wife when they fled back in disgrace to Britain. As Hiran dedicates himself to the education of his new son, the cycle of regeneration continues. Douglas, now an adult, neither black nor white, flees India himself for the Orient, again carried along on the flood of opium, this time to Borneo, to Sarawak: the land of the White Rajahs.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 320
 Edition: New e.
 Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 02 May 2002
ISBN 10: 0753813394
ISBN 13: 9780753813393
Book Overview: Colourful, ambitious and dazzling novel by the author of Racists 'A first novel of rare assurance, imaginatively set and richly textured with tales that spin away into elliptical orbits. Basu's evocative descriptions conjure the magic and heartbreak of the East...It is a phantasmagoric world, rich in stories, visions and dreams, not unlike those inspired by the heinous drug itself' Times Literary Supplement 'The blend of personal discovery and political revolt is handled with authority, achieving for India what Romesh Gunesekera's Reef managed for Sri Lanka...this history is never short of enthralling' Independent on Sunday 'The Opium Clerk is packed with historical information, and is imaginatively written' Daily Telegraph

Author Bio
Kunal Basu is 42. He was born in Calcutta but has spent much of his adult life in Canada where he teaches at McGill university. For the last year he has lived and worked in Oxford although he travels regularly to Canada, China and India in the course of his work. He has previously published short stories in the London Magazine and other publications.