The Tiger's Wife
Téa Obreht · b. 1985 · Serbia / United States
Why it matters
A young doctor in an unnamed Balkan country investigates her grandfather's death, braiding in his own folktales of a deathless man and a tiger that bonded with a deaf-mute woman during wartime. A dazzling debut, published when Obreht was twenty-five, that treats war and folklore as two sides of one grief.
At a glance
magical realismwar novelfamily saga
Difficulty 6/10medium pace337 pagesThree interwoven timelines and folkloric digression ask for attentive tracking.
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