Tiger

A unique novel in the way that some of it is told from the point of view of a tiger, which I thought was very well done. I loved Polly Clark's last book Larchfield and I think she should be far better known. Her books are beautifully written, full of lyrical, poetic language but still completely readable.

Frieda has had to leave her job researching bonobos after a horrific attack. She is still very much healing and not functioning properly. She takes a job as a zookeeper and proves herself competent enough to work with the tigers, much to the disgust of a male co-worker who is obsessed with the tigers and treats her horrifically.She takes care of the Empress, an injured tiger and comes to respect her and to heal in her own way.

In the wilds of Russia, Tomas lives an unhappy life on a nature conservation with his father. They live in the middle of nowhere where they track tigers in the hope of gaining support from Putin. He is disturbed to find that poachers have killed the male tiger and there appears to be a woman living in the forest.

The characters are beautifully, humanely drawn and I loved the way the author told the tiger parts of the novel. The descriptions of the animals and of the wilds of Russia are very well described and it was obvious that Clark had done a huge amount of research about tigers and their habitat.