When writers choose to write historical fiction, they have to be careful to get the known experiences of characters that actually existed as accurate as possible in order to have verisimilitude to the period and to leave themselves leeway to create fictional characters and have their actions appear plausible. This complexity only compounds when the fictional characters interact with nonfictional characters. Amitav Ghosh set himself an incredibly difficult task in his trilogy beginning with Sea of Poppies (2008) and succeeded in spectacular fashion.
In writing this trilogy of South Asia and the Pacific in the 19th century, specifically in the opium trade - from farm to pipe, India to China - and the subsequent forced opening of China in the Opium War, Amitav Ghosh writes primarily about the less glamorous people involved; from illiterate farmers to coolies, not shying away from the complex interplay between the lives of a great host of characters while informing the reader empathetically of so many personal journeys of the common people overcome by the grand events.
Simply put, each a gem, together they are a masterpiece: Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, Flood of Fire.
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