The book says that Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and spent his childhood in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and northern India. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Egypt and has taught in a number of Indian and American Universities. He is the author of three previous novels and is married and lives in New York.

Here is what some of the papers said about the book and though I am only 100 pages deep into it, I will stick my neck out and vouch for it.

“He is a writer who looks, listens and tells the story. If you want to see the Sundarbans painted in words, and read a bit of its history, myth and the story of an American Indian in search of the rare river dolphins, an impromptu translator and a local guide, then grab a copy of the The Hungary Tide. There are chances you may catapult into the tidal landscape of the Sundarbans,” said The Pioneer.

And Tehelka wrote “The Hungry Tide, Ghosh’s new novel … It is a fascinating, intense, tight book – perhaps the best Amitav Ghosh has written….He has created a constellation of immensely memorable characters, characters whose attraction, involvement – even hunger – for each other, set against the amplified canvas of nature at its most raw, makes for a very taut and pacy narrative…. It has everything that makes for a masterful book. Read it.”

While The Hungry Tide will connect you to the mysterious and mythical past of the Sundarbans, it is also a good time to remember what is happening there now, and how the future of the fascinating land and its people will shape up.

You can read the alert that Ananth, Greenpeace India Executive Director sounded in Calcutta’s leading paper, The Telegraph, about the impacts of climate change to West Bengal.

Vivek