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A spellbinding 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 his gifts as a woodcarver come to the attention of Tipu Sultan, and he is drawn into service at the palace to build a giant tiger automaton for Tipu’s sons, a gift to commemorate their return from British captivity. His fate—and the fate of the wooden tiger he helps to create—will mirror the vicissitudes of nations and dynasties ravaged by war across India and Europe.

Working alongside the legendary French clockmaker Lucien Du Leze, Abbas hones his craft, learns French, and meets Jehanne, the daughter of a French expatriate. But when British forces attack and loot Mysore, Abbas’s world is turned upside down and his tiger automaton is seized as a prize of war. To prove himself, 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, the story of a young artist coming of age, and an exuberant heist novel that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two continents and sixty-five years, Loot is a dazzling, wildly inventive, and irresistible feat of storytelling from a writer at the height of her powers.

Praise for Loot:

“James is a master miniaturist who can create the illusion of a saga in a chapter. And she’s not afraid to radically reset the novel’s place and tone. Her pages feel as full as a 19th-century bildungsroman, with collapsing kingdoms, sailing ships and elaborate schemes…What stays consistent throughout is James’s wry awareness of the distorting function of racism and colonialism. And her prose is lush with the sights, sounds and smells of India, France and England, and always laced with Dickensian wit.”

—ron charles, Washington post, full review here

“This is historical fiction at its finest…a mesmerizing, marvelous story.”

—Isaac fitzgerald, today show summer book club pick

“The birth of the British raj and the death of princely India provide a backdrop for the addictively absorbing adventures in Tania James’s Loot, which also invents a lively hero from a footnote to history.”

—new york times book review

“Loot is lovingly drawn and compulsively readable, with all the pleasures and detail of stellar historical fiction.”

—Vulture

“One of the richest, most complex summer books of the year.”

—reader’s digest

“You don’t need a plane ticket to go on a journey — just grab Tania James’s rich, engrossing fourth novel . . . Loot is full of mesmerizing detail and warmly rendered relationships.”

—INSTYLE MAGAZINE

“[A] dazzling, richly embroidered historical novel . . . James has pulled off something special in this ingeniously constructed novel. By creating characters who steadfastly refuse to become plunder themselves, she has produced an inspiring work of beauty sure to leave its mark on readers.”

—christian science monitor

“Some memorable reads are historical epics; others tell the stories of meticulously planned heists. And then there’s Tania James’s Loot, which manages the impressive feat of combining the two . . . James both immerses the reader in history and tells a thrilling story of ingenuity, injustice and bravura craftsmanship.”

—insidehook

“Tania James' latest novel, Loot, gives us a spirited imagining of this tiger's origins and how the British besieged and looted Tipu's capital. With carefully engineered plotlines and epigrammatic flourishes, James molds the tiger's fascinating, fictional journey from India to London's Victoria & Albert Museum — and the singular lives of those who were connected with it.”

—npr.org

“[A] spectacular tale of creativity and colonialism…Rarely is a novel so dense with painful themes also such fun. At once swashbuckling and searing, this is a marvelous achievement.”

—publishers weekly (starred review)

“Lively and symbolically rich…A smart, sharp tale, as well crafted as the object at its center.”

—Kirkus reviews (starred review)

“A rich, sprawling, picaresque historical novel . . . From the tyrannical opulence of Tipu’s palace to the fading glory of a British country manor, James weaves a lustrous tale of intrigue and survival, cunning and romance.”

—booklist (starred review)

“Someone needs to make this book into a movie . . . transportive storytelling at its best . . . a must-read for adventurers, dreamers, and lovers of history.”

—bookpage (starred review)

“Loot is the most transporting and absorbing novel I’ve read in ages—a rich tapestry of an epic, thrilling at every turn. This isn’t just brilliant writing: It’s storytelling of the highest order.” 
—Rebecca Makkai

“Loot is a feast—a hugely fun novel with a delicious plot that offers delights and profundities in equal measure. Each chapter of this sprint across the world serves stunning truths about circumstance and ambition, love and sacrifice, and the fickleness of victory. I devoured this book, and remain in awe of what Tania James has created.” 
—Megha Majumdar

“I read Loot in a single sitting; it is a wild, dazzling eighteenth-century romp across continents with profound things to say about invention and self-reinvention, class and fate, and the deeply human hunger to create family as both bulwark against loneliness and constant source of light and warmth.” 
—Lauren Groff

“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

“A luminous novel of history that explores the far reaches of empire and of human desire, of love, greed, betrayal, and possible redemption. In this genuine page-turner, Tania James does the seemingly impossible: not only does she breathe life into charismatic characters, she repeats the feat with automatons, for crying out loud. Tipu’s Tiger might be a stolen artifact in a British museum, but you can hear its roar in these pages. Loot is a historical story that bristles with contemporary urgency.” 
—Rabih Alameddine

“A novel of wonder and terror and beauty — I was completely captivated by it.” 
—Kamila Shamsie

I love this book. It is just so beautiful…unique, entertaining, smart and thoughtful…Loot vibrates with the same indomitable spirit and creativity of its main character, Abbas, and delivers a novel that is easily as spectacular as his tiger.
—Sara Hinckley, Hudson Booksellers