Critiques en avant-premièreAmitav Ghosh

At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Her destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean shortly before the outbreak of the Opium Wars in China. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners on board, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a free-spirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they come to view themselves as ship-brothers. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the exotic backstreets of Canton.

Man Booker Award Long List of 2008. At the heart of the epic saga, set just before the Opium Wars, is an old slave ship, THE IBIS. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its crew a motley array of sailors and stowaways, cooolies and convicts. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a truly diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed village woman, from an evangelical English opium trader to a mulatto American freedman. As their old family ties are washed away, like their historical counterparts, the crew come to view themselves as "jahaj-bhais," or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born that will cross continents, races and generations. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas and the exotic backstreets of China. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, that brings SEA OF POPPIES so breathtakingly alive. The first in a trilogy, it is a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists.