I just finished his novel Sea of Poppies (which was on the 2008 Booker shortlist) and was completely floored. Sea of Poppies is set in India on the cusp of the Opium Wars and follows the journey of the Ibis, an old schooner with its sails set for Mauritius. The novel reads with the adventurous spirit of a classic high seas yarn but maintains the expansive control of a Victorian novel. I highly recommend it!
(Here are the Sea of Poppies endpapers:)
What's most exciting is that Sea of Poppies is the first of a trilogy. The second volume of the Ibis trilogy, River of Smoke, was just published, and I really hope it gets a wide readership despite its omission from the 2011 longlist.

Currently reading:
Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus
Currently listening to:
John Maus, "We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourseles"
Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus
Currently listening to:
John Maus, "We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourseles"
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