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'Not since Zadie Smith has a young writer arrived with such power and grace' - Time
A tiger escapes from the local zoo, padding through the ruined streets and onwards, to a ridge above the Balkan village of Galina. His nocturnal visits hold the villagers in a terrified thrall - but for one boy, the tiger is a thing of magic.
Natalia is the granddaughter of that boy. Now a doctor, she is visiting orphanages in the war-torn Balkans when she receives word of her beloved grandfather's death, far from their home, in circumstances shrouded in mystery.
Compelled to unravel the truth, Natalia stumbles upon a clue that will lead her to a tattered copy of The Jungle Book, and then to the most extraordinary story her grandfather never told her - the legend of the tiger's wife.
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 9780753827406
Number of pages: 352
Weight: 244 g
Dimensions: 196 x 132 x 23 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Obreht's novel is that rarity: a debut that arrives fully formed, super smart but wearing its learning lightly. Above all The Tiger's Wife bristles with confidence' - Adrian Turpin, The Financial Times
'The brilliant black comedy and matryoshka-style narrative are among the novel's great joys...Obreht has prodigious talent for storytelling and imagery' - The Guardian
'Beautifully executed, haunting and lyrical, The Tiger's Wife is an ambitious novel that succeeds on all counts. It's a book you will want to read again and again' - The Indpendent
'Obreht's landscape hovers half in and half out of fable - where villagers who daily risk being hoisted by landmines also fear malign spirits, tigers' brides and men who transform into bears... It's a part of the world that Obreht has made her imagination's own: raucous and strange and gorgeous and rather haunting. This is a pretty formidable first novel. Here be tigers' - Sam Leith, The Financial Times
'She is a natural born storyteller and this is a startlingly suggestive novel about the dying out of myths and superstitions and rituals that bind people to place: the retreat of the spirits' - The Daily Telegraph
'This is a distinguished work by almost any standard, and a genuinely exciting debut... Obreht has a vibrant, rangy, full-bodied prose style, which moves expertly between realistic and mythic modes of storytelling, conjuring brilliant images on every page... a delightful work, as enchanting as it is surprising, and Obreht is a compelling new voice' - The Sunday Times
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“Very different but very very good!”
I find some books reach out, grab me and pull me into their world hook line qnd sinker from page 1. But occasionally a book weaves a kind of spell and draws me in gently almost like the author beckons me in with a... More
“very powerful”
Starting this review is hard. There is so much I love about this book - the mystery, the folklore, the way Obreht silkily spins her little web and leaves us to admire its complexity. It has a plotline of sorts, but I... More
“Excellent Read”
Would recommend this book to everyone..it can be very rare to find a novel which grab's you as this one certainly does!
Tea Obreht has such a gift and I look forward to future books.
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