This time we will read The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh. The novel first published in 2000 for which Ghosh refused to accept the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Publishers description:

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 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.

Reviews: Read Pankaj Mishra's New York Times review here.

Recommended additional reading: Amitav Ghosh's personal blog.

This Event is for Asia Society Members only. How to become a member?

About Asia Society Book Salon

In the Asia Society Switzerland Book Salon we read and discuss fiction from or about Asia in an informal setting. We meet four times a year – in person in Zurich, if possible. For more information about upcoming meetings and books to read, please join the WhatsApp group or contact us at switzerland@asiasociety.org.