"That night, the rain poured and wind howled, raindrops crashing like
solid objects onto the ground and water. A passenger boat from Ban Phaen
to Bangkok, packed with people, pressed on through the current amidst
the rising clamor of the rain and storm. . . ." The boat capsizes in the
torrent, and washed up on the shore the next morning are the sodden
bodies of the many passengers who lost their lives.
Thus begins M. R. Kukrit Pramoj's classic novel set in the Thailand of
the early 1950s and first published in 1954. The life of each passenger
who perished is retraced from birth, revealing a complex web of
experiences and emotions.