At the heart of this epic saga, set just before the Opium Wars, is an old slaving-ship, The Ibis Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its crew a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts Fate has thrown together a truly diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt Raja to a widowed villager, from an evangelical English opium trader to a mulatto American freedman As their old family ties are washed away they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais or ship-brothers An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races and generations