Flowers in the Blood (82 page)

READER:
Calcutta is not the only place in India the Jews resided, is it?

AUTHOR:
No, there were three major groups of Jews in India. The first, and the primary subject of
Flowers in the Blood
, are the Baghdadi Jews who came from Iraq in the early 19
^th
century. They settled mainly in the urban centers of Bombay and Calcutta, and for the most part were merchants. Their primary language was Arabic. The most numerous element were the Bene Israel. Their origin is obscured. Some believed they fled the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes around 175 B.C., others believe that they were part of the dispersal after the destruction of the Second Temple in A.D 70. They adopted regional dress, as well as the local language, Marathi, as their mother tongue. Even their names showed signs of assimilation. The smallest group, never numbering more than two to three thousand, are the Cochin Jews. They are said to have immigrated to India when the temple was destroyed by Titus. From the fifth until the fifteenth century the Jews of this area had an independent principality or kingdom ruled over by a prince of their own race and choice. All three groups play a role in the novel, although the Dinah and her kin are of Arabic origin.

READER:
Did the Jews suffer any anti-Semitism in India?

AUTHOR:
No, remarkably, India, which has been the home of the Jewish communities for more than 2000 years, has welcomed the Jews, and few areas of the world can match its record. Unlike Jews who settled in Europe, those in India were permitted to own and till land. Many of the Bene Israel sect, in particular, volunteered to serve as officers and in the courts of local kings and in the military under the British raj. A Bene Israel man was the admiral of Angre, a ruler from India’s west Coast, who built up a strong naval force that fought the British in the 18
^th
century. The only significant case of persecution took place in Crangamore, on what is now the Kerala coast, and this was by the Portuguese. However, the Jews were sheltered by other Indians, including the maharajah of the area who had the synagogue built adjoining the palace so he could personally protect them.

READER:
Why have so many Jews left India during the last 60 years?

AUTHOR:
Two almost simultaneous events: the departure of the British from India in 1948 and the creation of the state of Israel caused a voluntary, large scale emigration.

READER:
What remains of the Jews in India today?

AUTHOR:
In Calcutta there are fewer than 200 today, as compared to the more than 10,000 in 1945. Only six Jewish families remain in New Delhi, and in Cochin there are less than a hundred left. There are only about twenty or so synagogues that remain open, most of which are located in the Bombay area. Most of the Indian Jews are now living in Israel, the United States, Great Britain and Australia.

READER:
The flowers in the book’s title refer to opium poppies, and your heroine, Dinah Sassoon becomes involved in the family trade. Wasn’t this illegal?

AUTHOR:
On the contrary, opium was crucial to the balance of trade during the British raj, at least until the early 1900s. In fact, it solved their deficit problem. They purchased huge quantities of tea, silk, and porcelain from the Chinese, but they had nothing to barter with in return. Then the British discovered that the poppy, which grew wonderfully in their nearby colony of India, had a ready and increasing market in China. Even better, because the opium was addictive, a supply was always welcome and the price continued to rise. Unfortunately, the Chinese mandarins did not agree that the drug the barbarians were peddling was good for their people, so they declared it illegal. Britain was outraged at the disruption of their profitable trade, thus the opium wars were fought. They bombarded Canton, seized Hong Kong, occupied Shanghai, and ended up virtually forcing the Chinese to accept their poppies.

READER:
How did the Jewish merchants become involved in this trade?

AUTHOR:
The Sassoons were among several Jewish merchants (the Sassoons in my book are entirely fictional, by the way) who joined with Indian and British merchants (most notably Jardine Matheson) as middlemen. The British owned the rights to the poppy crops, then conducted wholesale auctions in Calcutta. It was up to the enterprising merchants to get the chests of opium into the Inner Land of China and mark up the price accordingly along the way. Don’t forget that merchants were bringing legal opium to other parts of the world like England (where the artistic set including Coleridge and De Quincy made it famous) and the United States. In the early part of the nineteenth century the Yankee Clipper opium traders included the progenitors of prestigious American families with names like Astor, Forbes, Perkins and Cabot.

READER:
What part does the poppy play in the opium trade?

AUTHOR:
Considered both a blessing and a curse,
papaver somniferum
, the opium poppy, offers wonderful relief from pain, but is easily addictive, both physically and psychologically. Dependent users will do almost anything to have it—steal, lie, prostitute themselves, etc. Heroin, which is a chemically treated morphine, is now a massive worldwide problem, wrecking lives, causing death, and yet providing an enormously profitable—yet treacherous—illegal business.

READER:
What is the situation regarding the growth of opium in India today?

AUTHOR:
At present India is the only legal producer of opium. Other countries including Turkey, the Soviet Union, Poland, and the Czech Republic provide legal poppy straw and seeds for pharmaceutical uses. A United Nations treaty acknowledges the poppy’s medicinal value, while requiring the elimination of illicit cultivation. Most of the illegal production comes from the Golden Crescent of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, as well the Golden Triangle of Burma, Laos, and Thailand. The same fields of Patna, which Dinah visits in
Flowers in the Blood
contribute to the approximately one thousand metric tons of opium used to produce morphine and codeine. Even with all the new drugs we are able to produce using chemical technology, morphine is believed to be the best for most acute pains, and if you take codeine perhaps combined with Tylenol or in a cough syrup, you too will have a distillation of the Indian poppy or the same flowers in your blood.

Discussion Starters:

1. Dinah Sassoon does not want anything to do with the opium business, yet she ends up running it. How does she rationalize this?
   
2. During the time of this novel, opium and virtually all drugs were legal. What would happen if they were legalized today?
   
3. Alcohol is a legal drug that has many implications and creates problems in our society. Do the people who own or control the production of these beverages have any moral responsibility for their product?
   
4. Dinah’s life is tainted by her connection to her mother’s death. Who perpetuates it, and why?
   
5. Each of the three Jewish sects plays a role in this novel. Which seems the most “Jewish” to you and which the most foreign?
   
6. There are “lost Jews” in other parts of the world. What do you know about any of these?
   
7. Did the members of the British raj discriminate against the Jews more than the Indians?
   
8. Opium (and other mind-altering drugs) has been associated with poets, artists, and philosophers. What famous works were supposedly written in an altered state?
   
9. Dinah becomes embroiled in the family business. Does this seem like any other family business you know about or have read about, and why?
   
10. The author is meticulous with her research. Does that get in the way of the story?
    
11. Which husband was more sympathetic: Silas or Edwin and why?
    
12. What is your favorite scene in the book and why?
    
13. What did you learn that you did not know before?
    
14. If anyone has been to India, did the general ambiance of the country come through or is the book set in too different a time period and culture?
    
15. Can you imagine the grown lives of Edwin and Dinah’s children?
    
16. Where do you imagine their grandchildren might be?
    
17. Dinah tells a friend of Edwin that her names means “vindicated” in Hebrew. Discuss several ways vindication is a theme of this novel.
    
18. Did you feel satisfied at the ending or were you left wanting more?
    

Additional reviews, research materials, articles can be found at:
http://www.gaycourter.com/books/flowers-in-the-blood

For more information, new books, and updates see
www.gaycourter.com
.

Gay Courter participates in book club discussions by phone, when available. She is also a paid keynote speaker. Contact:
[email protected]

About the Author

 

G
AY COURTER HAS WORKED CONTINUOUSLY IN FILM AND
television production since graduation from Antioch College and has produced more than 200 documentary and educational films. She is author of five bestselling novels with over three million copies in print worldwide including
The Midwife, The Midwife’s Advice, Code Ezra, River of Dreams
, and
Flowers in the Blood
. Her non-fiction works include
The Beansprout Book
and
I Speak For This Child
, and
How To Survive Your Husband’s Midlife Crisis
.

Gay has served as a volunteer in the Florida Guardian Ad Litem program since 1989 in which she acts as the court appointed advocate for neglected and abused children. Her book about her experiences
, I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate
, brought national attention to the cause. She has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Day One, NBC Weekend Edition, and in
Newsweek
, the
Los Angeles Times
,
Christian Science Monitor
and other national publications as an expert on these issues and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Gay has also received the Child Advocate of the Year award in Florida for her work as a Guardian Ad Litem, the Sharon Solomon Child Advocate Award from the Florida Center for Children and Youth, and special recognition from the Florida Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. for her work on
Where’s My Chance? The Case for Our Children
, which also won an Emmy. Gay received her second Emmy from the National Academy of Arts and Television Sciences, Suncoast Chapter, for a series of public service announcements called
Solutions for America’s Children
. She has been selected as one of the 10 most admired women in Citrus County twice—in the community service and arts categories. In 2004, Gay, her husband, Philip, and daughter, Ashley, jointly won the Angels in Adoption award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

Gay is married to her collaborator in documentary films, Philip Courter. They have produced almost hundred films on child welfare topics and specialize in media about children’s issues and strengthening family. Clients include National CASA, the National Council of Family and Juvenile Judges, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

The Courters have two sons, Blake, a specialist in computer design development and engineer; and Joshua, an ethnographic filmmaker and builder/designer. In 1998, they adopted Ashley, then age 12, who spent 9 years of her life in Florida’s foster care system in 13 different placements. Ashley’s bestselling book about her experiences,
Three Little Words
, is in development as a feature film.

Together the Courters continue to work professionally and personally so that other children will not be lost in the system like their daughter was.

Articles, reviews and updates on the author and to purchase books in print or e-book formats:
www.gaycourter.com
.