"This is the second novel in a trilogy, the first being "Sea of Poppies." These novels are set in India during the British rule and are the story of destitute Indian people who were sold as labor to work on plantations in colonies such as Mauritius. Amitav Ghosh has an extraordinary talent that brings characters and places to life in a lyrical, almost poetic style. The whole story is set among events that truly did happen. I especially like the way the language of the main characters morphs, the British speaking a mixture of English and broken Hindi and the illiterate peasants' speech being peppered with mangled french words."

Recommended by Neena Taskar

"This remarkable book conjoins science and the humanities at a time when science was fluid and evolving. Men and women of science and letters were friends, collaborators, and correspondents. Holmes gives the reader Joseph Banks, Captain Cook's botanist, astronomers William and Caroline Herschel; chemist Humphrey Davy, Mungo Parks in Africa, and much more." Recomemended by Patricia Cooper-Smith