The Smoke River. Volume 2

The second volume of the saga-trilogy. In September 1838, in the Indian Ocean, the schooner "Ibis," carrying convicts and indentured laborers from Calcutta to Mauritius, found itself at the center of a powerful storm. The novel follows the fates of the people caught in the storm—both natural and historical. Some of them were thrown by the storm and fate into Chinese Canton, where trade with foreigners is concentrated. Despite the efforts of the Chinese emperor to stop the opium trade, European ships circulating between India and China continue to deliver the drug.

The central figures in the second book of the trilogy are a wealthy opium trader-Parsi from Bombay; a former Indian raja who became a clerk in the trading mission; a young orphaned French girl; and a colorful company united in the pursuit of romance and wealth. Each of them tries to cope with their losses, and some—with the freedom that has suddenly fallen upon them.