Recommendations from our site
“My favourite book of all time is The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh. It’s the book that started my career. I knew nothing about Southeast Asia. It was a book that was so well written that not only did I leave it feeling like I could enter that world for a bit, I then decided to dedicate my whole academic and professional life to it for about 10 years.” Read more...
The Best Adventure Novels: The 2026 Wilbur Smith Prize
Alex Bescoby, Film Director
“What I really liked about this novel is the way it describes an individual’s place in history. It’s not so much that Ghosh makes a judgement on whether we are agents or victims of history, but he explores the different ways in which individuals react to particular incidents, and how some manage to overcome adversity. The Glass Palace follows the life of the last Burmese king and his family. It begins shortly before the king was deposed and sent into exile by the British army.” Read more...
Ahmede Hussain, Journalist
