I’ve been spotting opium references in popular culture with interest for a few years now (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 & 2012) – just how opium keeps fascinating us…
Well, 2020 was a funny year but anyway.
Let’s start with a few novels – Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s
Blood and Sugar was a great trip to 1780s Deptford and the slave trade. Opium addicts of course and a few on tinctures of laundanum for various eighteenth century ailments. Lydia Kang’s
Opium and Absinthe took us to 1889 New York, vampire scares, and opium. Elizabeth Bailey’s
The Opium Purge is back in 1790 England with mysteries that lead back to dope.