Loot

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

An epic tale of plundered treasure, savage empire, lasting love and a young man's dream to make his mark on the world.

Meet Abbas. Woodcarver, toy maker, dreamer. Abbas is seventeen when he is whisked away to Tipu Sultan's glorious palace in Mysore. Apprenticed to the legendary clockmaker Monsieur Du Leze, he is ordered to create an ingenious musical tiger to delight Tipu's sons.

In the eccentric Du Leze, Abbas finds an unexpected friend who encourages his skill and hunger for learning, and through whom he also meets the unforgettable Jehanne, who has questions and ambitions of her own.

But when British soldiers attack and loot Mysore, Abbas's world is turned upside down and his prized tiger is shipped off to a country estate in England. In order to carve out his place in the world, he must follow.

A hero's quest, a love story, an exuberant heist novel that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across the world, Loot is a dazzling, wildly inventive and irresistible feat of storytelling from a writer at the height of her powers.

'Loot held me spellbound from the first page' Maggie O'Farrell

©2024 Tania James (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

  • [An] epic sweep of a novel, which travels from India to Europe in the company of a fascinating range of characters…Niftily constructed, the novel packs in doomed romance, the horrors of colonialism and palace plots

    Daily Mail

  • Strongly recommending this exquisitely crafted and rich historical story to everyone I know . . . Tania James has created such a visceral, powerful story that it felt like I was in a time travelling machine

    Nikita Gill

  • Addictively absorbing

    New York Times Book Review

  • A real-life object of fascination — an 18th-century automaton depicting a tiger biting into an Englishman’s neck — is the basis for this novel…lush with the sights, sounds and smells of India, France and England, and always laced with Dickensian wit

    Washington Post, *Ten Best Books of the Year*

  • Loot held me spellbound from the first page. This is an expertly-plotted, deeply affecting novel about war, displacement, emigration, and an elusive mechanical tiger.

    Maggie O'Farrell

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