LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A spellbinding historical novel set in the
eighteenth century: a hero’s quest a love story the story of a young artist coming of age
and an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two
continents and fifty years. A Best Book of the Year: The Washington Post Los Angeles Times
NPR Kirkus Reviews “Addictively absorbing.” — The New York Times Book Review This
wildly inventive irresistible feat of storytelling from a writer at the height of her powers
is "an expertly-plotted deeply affecting novel about war displacement emigration and an
elusive mechanical tiger" (Maggie O’Farrell best-selling author of Hamnet and The Marriage
Portrait). Abbas is just seventeen years old when his gifts as a woodcarver come to the
attention of Tipu Sultan and he is drawn into service at the palace in order to build a giant
tiger automaton for Tipu’s sons a gift to commemorate their return from British captivity. His
fate—and the fate of the wooden tiger he helps create—will mirror the vicissitudes of nations
and dynasties ravaged by war across India and Europe. Working alongside the legendary French
clockmaker Lucien du Leze Abbas hones his craft learns French and meets Jehanne the
daughter of a French expatriate. When Du Leze is finally permitted to return home to Rouen he
invites Abbas to come along as his apprentice. But by the time Abbas travels to Europe Tipu’s
palace has been looted by British forces and the tiger automaton has disappeared. To prove
himself Abbas must retrieve the tiger from an estate in the English countryside where it is
displayed in a collection of plundered art.
