The Glass Palace Amitav Ghosh

Similar to his earlier book, In an Antique Land, Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace tells the stories of Indians living in other countries. Ghosh begins with the British invasion of Burma in the 1880's and follows Rajkumar, a young Indian boy as he makes his Dickensian way from poverty to wealth. Set in Malaysia, Burma and India, the first sectionof the book concentrates on a small set of characters over a relatively short period of time. But in the second section, time seeds up, covering most of the 20th century.  The novel also changes from a bildungsromans adventure story to deeper reflections about the connections among  imperialism, nationalism and family. I've traveled in both India and Burma and Ghosh's descriptions vividly recall these countries. While some sections seem to parallel Paul Scott's epic The Jewel in the Crown, the narration from the viewpoint of the Indians and Burmese. There are a few British characters, and the Japanese characters are unnamed.    Ghosh pro vides woncerful  set pieces.  The section on elephant teak logging is fascinating on its own. Definitely a book to add to your list.