Loot

An unforgettably rich and vivid historical novel set in eighteenth-century India, England, and France, about a young man's dream of leaving a mark on the world.

Abbas is just seventeen years old when he leaves his family to serve in the court of Tipu Sultan, the beleaguered ruler of Mysore. An inspired wood-carver, Abbas is recruited to help build a massive tiger automaton, a gift to celebrate the return of the sultan's sons from British captivity. Working alongside the legendary French clock maker Lucien du Leze, Abbas hones his craft, learns French, and meets Jehanne, the daughter of a French expatriate. When du Leze is finally permitted to return home to Rouen, he invites Abbas to come along as his apprentice. But by the time Abbas travels to Europe, Tipu's palace has been looted by British forces, and the tiger automaton has disappeared. To prove himself and make a livelihood in Rouen - alongside Jehanne - Abbas must retrieve the tiger from an estate in the English countryside, where it is displayed in a collection of plundered art.

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