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Book Summary and Reviews of Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis, translated by Anthea Bell

Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis, translated by Anthea Bell

Tiger Moon

by Antonia Michaelis, translated by Anthea Bell

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  • Published:
  • Nov 2008, 464 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Fate brings together a talking tiger, a doomed princess, and a rascally thief in a thrilling, old-fashioned tale from an exciting, internationally acclaimed new talent.

How does a story of India begin?

Does it begin with the three rivers—the Ganges, the Yamuna, the unseen Sarasvati pouring her dreaming waters down from the snowy mountains to the hot, dry plain?

Like other great storytellers of India, newcomer Antonia Michaelis weaves a tale that is grand in spirit and earthy in humor. She introduces the young thief Farhad, master of many disguises but not of his own heart, who, with the help of a sarcastic tiger, must save a Hindu princess from marriage to a demon king. It is the unlikely friendship between boy and tiger, and the sacrifice their journey demands, that is the soul of this lushly told, beautifully felt novel.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Antonia Michaelis has succeeded in writing a wonderful and exciting novel, which is thrilling to the last page. You want to read more of her!" - Der Tagesspiegel.

"Starred Review." - Kirkus Reviews.

"Just as compelling is the novel's commentary on the power of story to shape lives, inspire courage and even change personalities. Raka's story, which bears some uncanny parallels to her own biography, inspires everyone who hears it, including one who may be the unlikeliest hero of all. Of course, the best thing about Tiger Moon is that, just as Raka's fairy story --- which blends elements of magical realism with cultural background on Hindu deities, traditional Indian customs and British colonialism --- draws in everyone who hears it, so too will it draw in those lucky enough to discover Antonia Michaelis's almost compulsively readable book." - Norah Piehl, TeenReads

This information about Tiger Moon was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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More Information

Antonia Michaelis has lived and taught in India. She is the author of several books published in her native Germany, where she now resides. This is her first book to be published in the United States. Anthea Bell is the translator of Cornelia Funke’s bestselling Inkheart books. Her work has won the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation, the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize, and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She lives in Cambridge, Great Britain.

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