Flowers in the Blood (81 page)

I never wanted to leave Calcutta, but there is no one left for me. The house echoes with emptiness. The choice has been made. The hour is here. With this task completed, I can rest knowing my story has been chronicled by me and not merely conjectured by someone else. Now that the tale has filled these notebooks, it seems not very different from the secrets that other families keep. My beloved Edwin has been gone for over five years now. During the period of his illness, I blamed his pulmonary problems on the years he had been addicted to opium, although no physician suggested this was the cause. When he required pain relief, Edwin rejected morphine. I dared not encourage him lest he think his case was hopeless. The longer one lives, the more paradoxical our positions become, for in the end I secretly laced Edwin's tea with tears of the poppy and he died peacefully in my arms.

Almost everyone else has died, but what happened to them and what they did about it will live on in this memoir. What now to do with my inept scratchings? This record of that time in my life is everything I intend to say. I leave this as my explanation for who I was and what I did. Others may have a different version of the same events. I cannot relate anyone else's perspective. This is how I lived it, how I saw it, and yes, how I choose to remember it. And once my pen is put away, this is all I will tell. I do not want to answer questions. Before I close the lid of Clive's bureau, I shall lock this memoir inside for safekeeping. What happens when it is found will be someone else's concern.

Clara Luna Weiss
605 Park Avenue
New York, New York
20 July 1960

Aaron S. Salem
11 Alwyne Place
London N1

Dear Aaron
,

You all guessed wrong! The mysterious bundle contained an extraordinary memoir Mother must have written
—
or at least completed
—
during the last months she lived in Calcutta. Since it ends before I was born, there is a frustrating gap. Although it covers some familiar ground, there are myriad questions satisfied. For instance, haven't you always wondered why Mother would never visit Cochin or Travancore or what the truth was behind our grandmother's murder? Also explained is how Uncle Jonah got his start in Hong Kong and the true origins of the enigmatic Wu Bing, who has left us that legacy of lawsuits. Best of all, here is our parents' story and it is the tale of true love we always suspected. There are a few disconcerting revelations about Papa. However, knowing them helped me to understand so much more.

Please ask Mr. Jhirad in exactly which drawer in the Clive desk he found the manuscript. This is of significance^ as you will learn when you read the copy I am enclosing for you. I have also forwarded one to Zachariah, who should be back in Israel by now, and I will save one for when Jeremiah returns from his circumnavigation on
Luna Two.

I think you will agree this is a record of the singular life of a woman and her times. After the family has read it, we might consider having the book published (perhaps deleting the intimacies that might embarrass some), either by my publishing firm or another, depending on the offers we receive. Besides, with so few of us left in India, it does chronicle a society that
—
at the rate it is going
—
will soon disappear and will never be again.

Somehow I think that must have been what Mother had in mind when she directed that it be sent to me.

Love to you, Nancy, and the children
,
Clara

P.S. As to the “bureau,” please have a firm accustomed to crating and shipping valuable furniture prepare the desk for transport to New York.

Author's Note

 

 

T
he fictional murder of Luna Sassoon on the first of October 1878 is based on the real murder of Leah Judah on the first of October 1858. Like Luna, Leah was a member of Calcutta's Baghdadi Jewish community, her husband was an opium trader who traveled to China much of the time, and she was killed by a jealous suitor who had been rejected. Two men were arrested for the murder: Ezekiel Shurbanee on a charge of willful murder and Nissim Gubbay as his accomplice. The trial that ensued was much like the one described in the novel, and the verdict, despite much evidence and the sworn testimony of servants, identical. Afterward, both freed men fled Calcutta. In the Jewish cemetery in Calcutta, the murdered woman's tombstone describes her as Leah, daughter of Abigedor Ezriel, not as her husband's wife, for he had disowned her in death. Years later it was rumored that Nissim Gubbay met a violent end in a Hong Kong opium den. This tale is covered in
Turning Back the Pages, A Chronicle of Calcutta Jewry
, by Esmond David Ezra, and
Remarkable Criminal Trials in Bengal
, by the pseudonymous “Lex,” who is thought to be Robert Reid.

The Arabic-speaking Jewish community of India did have as two of its progenitors Shalom Cohen of Aleppo (1762-1836), who is regarded as the founder of the community in Calcutta; and Sheikh Sason Ben Sason of Baghdad (1750-1830). The latter never went to India, but his son David Sassoon did settle in Bombay and built up the family fortune. These men, and a few of their descendants, including David Sassoon (1792-1864), Abdullah Sassoon (1818-1896), who moved to England, and Flora Sassoon (1859-1936), have been mentioned for historical purposes. The real names of the Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta add to the confusing line between fact and fiction. Often the Jews who came from the Middle East did not have surnames. Elias Ezra Aaron would be Elias, the son of Ezra, the son of Aaron. As the names became longer through the generations, those at the end would be dropped. Eventually, any common connection was lost, and because many biblical names were used repeatedly, genealogies in different families have almost identical names. To assist the reader, I have given families surnames and have tried not to duplicate names, but since I have attempted to use mostly typical names of the period, I may have inadvertently named a fictional character after a real one. Nevertheless, all other descendants of those clans described in the novel are entirely fictional.

This was a unique culture, which can hardly be reproduced in a novel with any accuracy. For the most part the Calcutta Jews were rather unsophisticated in their language. Among themselves, the older characters would have spoken Arabic, interspersed with Hindustani and English. And while the opium trade was practiced by a few members of the community, a majority of the Jews plied a variety of professions. Also, opium, which was perfectly legal in India at the time, was traded by Indians themselves as well as British and other merchant groups.

While few had the financial resources of my fictional family, many real Sassoons went on to become leaders of the Jewish community in Bombay. One extraordinary woman, Flora Sassoon, was a scholar, philanthropist, and famed hostess, and for many years was managing partner of the firm's Bombay office. The fictional Dinah's life was not based on any of Flora's experiences, only inspired by her successful example.

The princely state of Travancore (in the area now called Kerala) did exist. It was matrilineal and headed by a maharajah. However, Amar and his family are entirely imaginary and are not based on any real persons in Travancore or elsewhere. Except for a few other people mentioned in their historical context, every other character is fictional and any resemblance to those living or dead is coincidental.

An outbreak of the plague occurred at approximately the date mentioned and was more severe in Bombay than in Calcutta. Flora Sassoon did assist Dr. Haffkine in his work to develop the first plague vaccine. The earthquake of 1897 is based on actual accounts of this disaster, which, though severe in Calcutta, was even more so in Darjeeling.

While I have attempted to place people and events in the approximate times they did occur, certain railways, schools, and less important events may not have been in operation or actually occurred exactly as recorded here. Usually there is less than a three-year discrepancy, if any. Please see scholarly works for any accurate information on the people and places described.

Today the fields of Patna continue to flower with opium poppies. India remains the world's largest—and only legitimate—poppy Producer. A United Nations treaty, signed by 116 nations, acknowledges the medicinal value of opium, while denouncing illegal poppy cultivation, which possibly doubles India's output and is usually converted to heroin. Even with the latest in modern pharmacology, the derivatives of. the poppy—morphine and codeine—are unrivaled in their ability to alleviate pain. If there is codeine in your medicine cabinet, it was probably processed by an authorized Indian company and grown in the fields that once supplied the Sassoons, the Jardines, and their compatriots.

In 1947, India's Jewish population reached a peak of about thirty thousand. The combined political influence of Indian and Israeli independence, which happened almost simultaneously, led to widespread emigration. The Baghdadi Jews, in particular, always thought of themselves as members of the European community and thus did not expect to thrive under the new regime. Also, they were influenced by the economic restrictions that were introduced, in the country and by regulations that affected dealings in foreign exchange. Many of the Calcutta Jews migrated to England, Canada, the United States, and Australia. Israel called to many other Jews. At first, those Cochin Jews who tried to emigrate were delayed due to Israel's concern for their endemic disease— elephantiasis. Once the disease was proved to be noncontagious, the Cochin Jews left en masse. Of the twenty-five hundred who once lived there, less than fifty Jews remain. Today, in the whole of India, fewer than five thousand Jews (mostly Bene Israel) are left. The once-thriving Jewish community of Calcutta has dwindled to just about one hundred.

For readers curious to learn more about this culture and period, the following sources are recommended:

Elias, Blower, and Judith Ellis Cooper.
The Jews of Calcutta.
New York: Sephardic House, 1974.

Ezra, Esmond David.
Turning Back the Pages, A Chronicle of Calcutta Jewry.
London: Brookside. Press, 1986. (Includes a separate genealogy and tape recording.)

Jackson, Stanley.
The Sassoons.
New York: E. P. Dutton, 1968.

Musleah, Rabbi Ezekiel N.
On the Banks of the Ganga
—
The Sojourn of Jews in Calcutta.
North Quincey, Mass.: Christopher Publishing House, 1975.

Roland, Joan G.
Jews in British India: Identity in a Colonial Era.
Hanover, N.H. : University Press of New England, 1989.

Ross, Cecil.
The Sassoon Dynasty.
London: Robert Hale, 1941.

I am indebted, to experts in many fields who assisted with the research for this book. Members of the scattered Jewish community of India who were very generous to me include Ellis Jhirad, Daniel and Hannah Jhirad, Sam and Erna Daniel, Benjamin Hayeem, Vilma Hayeem-Ladani, Rabbi Ezekiel N. Musleah, Joseph Sargon, Zeke Barber, Sylvia Wisenfeld, Lionel Alroy, and the members of Congregation BINA, the organization of Indian Jewry settled in the United States, as well as several others who preferred to remain anonymous. Specialists who shared their expertise include food writer Copeland Marks; chemist Jim Cossey; Latin scholars Warren J. Myers, Marguerita Avellaneda, and Candace Hoflund; doctors Josh Madden, Mario Mendizabal, Dick Stewart, and Robin Weisman Madden; sailors Gerard Pesty and Don Corman; chess expert Leonard Weisman; Chinese queries were fielded by Adrienne, Kendall, and Jennifer Su. Of course all errors, omissions, and fictional digressions remain the responsibility of this author.

Robert Singerman of the Price Judaica Library at the University of Florida was a font of information, and the university's interlibrary loan department worked overtime for me. Mr. Robert Hay day and the India Office Library in London provided access to a wealth of material on the period of the British raj. I appreciate the continuing assistance of Vanda Carnes and the Coastal Region Public Library and the Ocala Public Library.

Researchers Kathleen Cossey in Florida and Alexander Clifford in London worked on my behalf. Information was also gathered by Jem Cohen, Ruth Mandel Chevat, and Nancy Porter. Thanks to Caroline Caughey, Jenny and David Clifford, Pru Trew, and Angela Sanford for helping me in London.

Insightful editorial work by Maureen Baron, Hilary Ross, and John Paine is gratefully acknowledged.

My personal assistants and readers who offer valuable support daily include my mother, Elsie Weisman; Mary Ann Boline; Beverly Crane; Mary Wanke; Barbara Miller; and Rebecca Stanley Bunch.

I rely on the continuing counsel of my wise agent and friend, Don Cutler.

Essential to this project were the love, cooperation, and encouragement of my husband, Philip, who reads everything first, and my sons, Blake and Joshua, who tolerated a mother whose heart is always theirs, but whose mind was often continents away in India.

B
OOK
C
LUB
G
UIDE

G
AY COURTER’S RICHLY TEXTURED NOVEL
about a Jewish family in Victorian India vividly brings to life an India never before portrayed as it tells the tale of Dinah Sassoon’s extraordinary quest for love and justice.

For British India’s colonial masters, the end of the nineteenth century is an era of opportunity, and no one has profited more handsomely than Dinah’s father. The opium trade has made him a pillar of Calcutta’s small tight-knit Jewish community, but his frequent absences to China sow the seeds of grim disaster, and his beautiful but wanton wife is found mysteriously murdered. Dinah, now the daughter of a dishonored mother, sees her privileged future evaporate in scandal and scorn, and she is thrust into a loveless marriage that soon disintegrates. It is only when she meets the irresistible Edwin Salem, who joins her in a passionate but tempestuous union between equals, that Dinah finds fulfillment—and the courage of her ambition. Slowly she is able to take over the family business, and it becomes both her challenge and her cross: the growing and selling of opium.

The author answers questions about the genesis and writing of this novel exclusively for this e-edition.

READER
: This is a complex novel with so much detail. How long did it take you to research and write it?

AUTHOR
: I spent more than a year researching the Jews of India, the opium trade, colonial life in Calcutta and Travancore, the hidden world of maharajahs, the customs of the various factions of Indian Jews, life in Darjeeling, the tea business and more.

READER:
You have traveled to research your books, did you go to India for this one?

AUTHOR:
I spent time in India as a child, but did not return to research this book. I met members of the India’s Jewish community in New York, Boston, and especially London. They told me that everything is gone. In fact, all the records of the raj—and this period—are in the East India Office Library in London. I did spend quite a lot of time there.

READER
: How did you get the idea for this novel?

AUTHOR
: When I was researching
Code Ezra
in Israel, we were passing Lod Airport and my guide told me that that Indian Jews who had emigrated to Israel lived in that area. Somehow that lodged in my mind, but it wasn’t until I was returning a book to the Judaica section of the University of Florida library that it came up again.

READER
: In what way?

AUTHOR
: They were cataloging a new book on the Jews in Calcutta and one section dealt with the murder of a woman named Leah Judah. Leah, married to an opium trader, was slain by a lover. My novelist’s mind began mulling over who found her body…then what if was her child…and then the plot unraveled before me.