Saya John becomes a mentor for Rajkumar, teaching him the intricacies of the trade: how timber is harvested in the jungle and moved down the rivers to the ports, where it’s sold for a handsome profit. A Christian and a foreigner, Saya John is involved in the teak trade. Through Ma Cho, he meets a man named Saya John. No stranger to hard work, Rajkumar sees this as an opportunity. He will not see her for another twenty years.Īfter the British arrive, Burma changes. The next day, as the royal family are being deported, he hands Dolly a packet of candies. While there, he spots one of the handmaidens, Dolly, and is struck by her beauty. Like many commoners, it’s the first time he sees inside the famous Glass Palace. When the palace is sacked, the humiliated king and his entourage are sent to India by the British.ĭuring the looting, Rajkumar gets swept along with the crowd.

Despite her violent efforts, she and the king have only held power for seven years. She has ruthlessly eliminated his rivals: nearly eighty men from the royal bloodline. Queen Supayalat is shown to be the mastermind of Thebaw’s reign. He works at a food stall with a woman named Ma Cho, arriving in Mandalay after his family fled a sickness that spread through their village in India.Ī dispute over timber has angered the British, and despite King Thebaw’s best efforts, the local forces are quickly defeated. An 11-year-old boy named Rajkumar is the only one who recognizes the thundering sound of the British cannon for what it is. In Mandalay, Burma, the British army begins to descend on the city and dethrone the royal family. It is set in Burma, Malaya, and India during a turbulent period in the region’s history. Originally published in 2000, The Glass Palace is Amitav Ghosh’s fourth novel and tells the story of a family across three generations.

The glass house amitav ghosh