Tania James

''Loot held me spellbound from the first page...an expertly-plotted, deeply affecting novel '' Maggie O’FarrellYoung toy maker and dreamer Abbas is whisked away to Tipu Sultan''s glorious palace in Mysore and ordered to create a musical tiger to delight Tipu''s sons.When he is apprenticed to eccentric clockmaker Monsieur Du Leze, Abbas finds an unexpected friend who encourages his skill and hunger for learning. Through Du Leze, 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.''A thrilling, absorbing and immersive tale of artistry, adventure and romance'' Claire Fuller''A cinematic novel of empire, colonialism and romance...Loot asks who gets written out of history and why'' Guardian''Immersive and beautifully written...a clever and absorbing novel about empire and belonging’ Sunday Times

'There he was, his trunk wrapped in hers. Whatever hurt or sorrow befell him was not really happening to him. He was on the other bank with his mother. He was not here' When a young elephant is brutally orphaned by poachers, he begins terrorising the countryside, earning his malevolent name, the Gravedigger, from the humans he kills and then tenderly buries with leaves. Manu, the studious son of a rice farmer, loses his cousin to the Gravedigger and is drawn into the alluring world of ivory hunting. Emma is working on a documentary set in a Kerala wildlife park with her best friend. Her work leads her to witness the porous boundary between conservation and corruption, until eventually she finds herself caught up in her own betrayal. 'One of the most unusual and affecting books... a compulsively readable, devastating novel' Jonathan Safran Foer VINTAGE EARTH is a collection of novels to transform our relationship with the natural world. Each one is a work of creative activism, a blast of fresh air, a seed from which change can grow. The books in this series reconnect us to the planet we inhabit - and must protect. Discover great writing on the most urgent story of our times.