Long listed for the National Book Award, this third novel by Tania James is one of the best books I have read this year. Here is my book review Loot: A Novel by Tania James

Irresistible Historical Fiction

I couldn’t put this book down. Several book reviews of James work use the word “spellbinding”. Indeed it was. I loved every page. James takes a real artifact from India, Tipu’s Tiger (currently a centerpiece in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) and creates a fictional tale around it. Brilliant.

18th Century India

Young Abbas, a master wood carver at only 17 years, gains the attention of Sultan Tipu and his life will change forever. He is brought to the palace to build an automatron tiger, to be a gift for the Sultan’s son. Here he begins to work side by side with French clock maker Lucien du Leze to create the masterful Tiger. Along the way he meets the enchanting Jehanne, still a child herself but sparks fly.

British Forces

When Tipu’s palace is looted by British forces wanting to colonize India, the Tiger disappears. Abbas escapes and slowly makes his way to France in search of Lucien. But when he arrives Lucien had died, but he find Jehanne, living in Lucien’s house and posing as his daughter. The two will begin a partnership of clock repair and carving and eventually set out on a scheme to retrieve the stolen Tiger.

Fifty Years

Loot spans fifty years and multiple continents as war ravages and dynasties fall under colonialism. James has a remarkable talent for inventive storytelling. The reader is pulled into a story so visually rich you clearly see yourself in India, London, and on the high seas. It’s imaginative, original and a refreshing read.

*****Five stars for Loot by Tania James

Thank you for reading my book review Loot by Tania James. See last week’s book review A Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides.

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