Hello everyone, I am looking for any suggestions for historical fiction set during first half of the 19th century, which would deal with either of these two topics:
1) The old China trade (e.g. western opium trafficking in Canton and Hong Kong) and the Opium Wars. I've enjoyed the novel Taipan if anyone has read that, and I heard there's a novel by an Indian author called River of Smoke, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.
2) The maritime fur trade in the Pacific-Northwest of America (which was linked to the export of furs to China during the period). I have not heard of any novels around this setting yet.
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Books about old China trade or maritime fur trade?
Re: Books about old China trade or maritime fur trade?
Beyond the Shining Mountains by Doris Shannon, set in Canada and it takes a while to get to Western Canada. I recall there's a fort and I believe there was some fur trading going on.
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Re: Books about old China trade or maritime fur trade?
The author of River of Smoke is is Amitav Ghosh. I've read Sea of Poppies by the same author and really enjoyed it. Sea of Poppies is the first in the 'Ibis' trilogy, River of Smoke being the second and Flood of Fire being the third.
https://www.amitavghosh.com/seapoppies.html
https://www.amitavghosh.com/riverofsmoke.html
https://www.amitavghosh.com/flood_of_fire.html
https://www.amitavghosh.com/seapoppies.html
https://www.amitavghosh.com/riverofsmoke.html
https://www.amitavghosh.com/flood_of_fire.html
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Re: Books about old China trade or maritime fur trade?
IIRC, I read a book by Ivan Doig that dealt with the Alaskan fur trade. The Sea Runners. Here's the synopsis from his site:
In 1853, in the farthest outpost of the Czar's empire, four Scandinavian indentured servants—seven-year men no better off than slaves—resolve to escape from Russian Alaska. They steal an Indian canoe and point it south toward Astoria, in Oregon, twelve hundred miles away.
This novel of audacity is based on a historical incident discovered by the author, and transformed by his imagination into a sustained sweep of adventure. The four sea runners must weather the worst the ill-named Pacific can throw at them, and must weather their own fierce squalls, too, as day upon day, guided as much by instinct and determination as by map, they paddle through the magnificent maze of the Northwest Coast toward the mouth of the Columbia River.
In 1853, in the farthest outpost of the Czar's empire, four Scandinavian indentured servants—seven-year men no better off than slaves—resolve to escape from Russian Alaska. They steal an Indian canoe and point it south toward Astoria, in Oregon, twelve hundred miles away.
This novel of audacity is based on a historical incident discovered by the author, and transformed by his imagination into a sustained sweep of adventure. The four sea runners must weather the worst the ill-named Pacific can throw at them, and must weather their own fierce squalls, too, as day upon day, guided as much by instinct and determination as by map, they paddle through the magnificent maze of the Northwest Coast toward the mouth of the Columbia River.
Re: Books about old China trade or maritime fur trade?
Thanks for your suggestions, I will look those up.