The opium poppy looks delicate and innocuous. But for Amitav Ghosh, an Indian writer, it is “one of the most powerful beings that humans have encountered in their time on Earth”. Mr Ghosh’s elegant ...
Where there's smoke: a 19th-century engraving of opium addicts - Archive Collection / Alamy Stock Photo There are rumours that swirl in the writing world: all the publishing houses of the UK now have ...
The problem began with a flower, a delicate blossom with a slender stalk. It was a fragile-looking plant, with petals as fine as tissue paper, yet it proved to be a formidable opponent. As the ...