The Hungry Tide

Author Ghosh, Amitav
Year 2004
First published 2004
Publisher London: HarperCollins
Number of pages 402
Edition First UK hardback
ISBN 9780007141784
Keywords scientist main character, biology, zoology, female scientist, habitat at risk, risk to society (role of science), natural history, marine sciences

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Abstract

A multi-layered novel of place about the Sundarban archipelago, a wild maze of islands and waterways on the Bay of Bengal. Piyali Roy, an Indian-American marine biologist, travels across the Sundarbans in search of the once plentiful Irrawaddy dolphin. Kanai Dutt is a successful New Delhi businessman and interpreter, who has traveled to the region to retrieve his deceased uncle's journal, which recounts the history of the islands and the brutal eviction of a group of poor settlers that resulted from the government's overzealous conservation efforts. And Fokai is a local fisherman and father. In the course of their private quests and convergent stories, Ghosh explores the volatile interfaces between ecology, sociology and twentieth century politics. (FMS Gaines)