Mythical creatures, conversations with the dead, lucky numbers, Confucian virtues, and forbidden love provide the backdrop for Choo's superb murder mystery. Ji enlists the help of her step-brother, Shin, to discover the origin of the finger, but uncanny tragedies and mishaps follow in their wake. Meanwhile, Ji Lin, a dressmaker's apprentice who secretly works at a dance hall, happens upon a preserved finger in the possession of an unsavory customer. As Ren desperately searches Acton's home and the nearby hospital for the finger, the body of a young woman is discovered, her scattered remains presumably the work of a man-eating tiger. Thus Ren begins to work for William Acton, the British surgeon who amputated MacFarlane's finger years before. The task must be completed within 49 days or else, according to lore, the doctor's spirit is doomed to wander Earth forever. MacFarlane, to find his dismembered finger (it was amputated after an accident) and bury it in his grave. In 1930s Malaya, 11-year-old house servant Ren accepts the dying request of his master, Dr. A transcendent story of courage and connection.' - Booklist (starred review)Ĭhoo (The Ghost Bride) centers her riveting latest on five individuals connected to a series of deaths in Malaysia's Kinta Valley. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming-of-age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible. Yangsze Choo's The Night Tiger pulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love.

Ji Lin and Ren’s increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever.Īs the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths racks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for.Įleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. “A sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world.” - Kirkus (starred review)Īn utterly transporting novel set in 1930s colonial Malaysia, perfect for fans of Isabel Allende and Min Jin Lee

The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick

Yangsze choo the night tiger a novel