An American-born ecologist of Indian immigrants travels to the Sunderbans to study the Irriwaddy Dolphin. She joins three additional main characters — a translator, an unlettered fisherman of the tide country, and nature. As a scientist she is so painfully American I must believe that Ghosh’s accounts of the others in the book are equally accurate. It’s a fine story full of area legends, sights, history, and aromas of islands that submerge to their treetops at every tide, enhanced by the outstanding narration on Recorded Books by Firdous Bamji. August 2009.