"The Tigers in the Tower" by Julia Golding is based around a piece of history that many children may not know about when they go on school trips to the Tower of London, listening to the stories of deposed monarchs and traitorous criminals that were once imprisoned there. From the 1200s right up to 1835, the zoo hosted a "Menagerie" - a collection of weird wild and exotic animals, kept behind the thick stone walls of this Norman castle.
In Julia's fantastic and scintillating tale we meet Sahira who, along with her family, embarks on a perilous journey to London to present two regal Tigers to be kept and displayed in the menagerie. Sahira's father is a captain in the East India Company, and her mother is a wise and elegant Indian woman. Sahira bridges two worlds that - at the time this book is set - were drawn together by the colonisation of India by the British, aspects of which Julia burnishes her already fascinating story with.
Sahira's parents don't make it, perishing on the journey - and the poor girl soon finds herself left alone in London, to survive on her wits, but with one last dying wish of her father's uppermost in her mind - to make sure that the beloved tigers are well looked after and protected at all costs.
Sahira enlists the help of new friends who understand the importance of her quest, and so this plucky young girl must find her own path in a land that is not her own.
There's a lot of amazing subtle allegory to pick out in this story, as exciting, fresh and original as they come in middle grade fiction. Julia's deft descriptive and immersive writing fleshes out Sahira's character beautifully, and there are times where the points made about migration to a foreign land, and the protection of endangered species in our wonderful world are nicely woven into the core story of Sahira's bravery and determination.
In a publishing industry still over-obsessed with middle grade detective novels, it's genuinely nice to read a MG book that eschews the tired old cliches of a smart kid unravelling the criminal machinations of a bunch of hapless adults. Instead this is a tale of a girl who has her heart set on something far more important - protecting animals who deserve a far better life than being clanged up in cages.
Sum this book up in a sentence: A heady, atmospheric and intoxicatingly involving story with a brave and plucky young girl at its heart.
"The Tigers in the Tower" by Julia Golding is out on 18th September 2020, published by Lion Hudson (kindly supplied for review).