The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
The acclaimed author of The Calcutta Chromosome and The Shadow Lines has burst out on to the big stage with a major saga on that hidden country, Burma.
Rajkumar is only another boy, helping on a market stall in the dusty square outside the royal palace, when the British force the Burmese King, Queen and all the Court into exile. He is rescued by the far-seeing Chinese merchant, and with him builds up a logging business in upper Burma. But haunted by his vision of the Royal Family, he journeys to the obscure town in India where they have been exiled. The picture of the tension between the Burmese, the Indian and the British, is excellent.
Among the great range of characters are one of the court ladies, Miss Dolly, whom he marries: and the redoubtable Jonakin, part of the British-educated Indian colony, who with her husband has been put in charge of the Burmese exiled court.
The story follows the fortunes - rubber estates in Malaya, businesses in Singapore, estates in Burma - which Rajkumar, with his Chinese, British and Burmese relations, friends and associates, builds up - from 1870 through the Second World War to the scattering of the extended family to New York and Thailand, London and Hong Kong in the post-war years.
Format: Paperback | 560 pages
Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.3 x 3.7 | 742g
Publication Date: 24 Jan 2001
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint: Flamingo
Publication City/Country: London, United Kingdom
Language: English
Edition Number: 1
ISBN10: 0007107218
ISBN13: 9780007107216
Condition: Good
A vintage book that has been read but is in good condition. Some obvious damage to the cover including very minor scuff marks and a fair amount of creasing, but no holes or tears. The majority of pages are undamaged with some minor creasing but no tearing. No pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.