Synopses & Reviews
A book that earned Sy Montgomery her status as one of the most celebrated wildlife writers of our time,
Spell of the Tiger brings readers to the Sundarbans, a vast tangle of mangrove swamp and tidal delta that lies between India and Bangladesh. It is the only spot on earth where tigers routinely eat people--swimming silently behind small boats at night to drag away fishermen, snatching honey collectors and woodcutters from the forest. But, unlike in other parts of Asia where tigers are rapidly being hunted to extinction, tigers in the Sundarbans are revered. With the skill of a naturalist and the spirit of a mystic, Montgomery reveals the delicate balance of Sundarbans life, explores the mix of worship and fear that offers tigers unique protection there, and unlocks some surprising answers about why people at risk of becoming prey might consider their predator a god.
Review
"In a spiritual comprehension, people of the Sundarbans know that without the tiger, their human world is incomplete."
--Time
Review
"Spell of the Tiger is a splendid, transcendental book, distilled like brandy. Lovers of nature should love it."
--Edward Hoagland
Review
"Sy Montgomery puts the fear of God into you with her tales of the great mangrove swamp of Sundarbans."
--Los Angeles Times
Review
"Clear, emotionally telling and always right to the point, her accounts of the other forms of life are without peer."
--Farley Mowat, Author of Never Cry Wolf
Synopsis
Filled with beauty and suspense, this book is a deep quest by a superb nature writer to plumb the reality of the Sundarbans, one of the world's great tidal deltas, and one of the last hunting grounds of the Bengal tiger. The people of the Sundarbans see the huge, silent killer not only as prey sees its predator, but as a holy man sees his god.
Synopsis
From the author of The Soul of an Octopus and bestselling memoir The Good Good Pig, a book that earned Sy Montgomery her status as one of the most celebrated wildlife writers of our time, Spell of the Tiger brings readers to the Sundarbans, a vast tangle of mangrove swamp and tidal delta that lies between India and Bangladesh. It is the only spot on earth where tigers routinely eat people--swimming silently behind small boats at night to drag away fishermen, snatching honey collectors and woodcutters from the forest. But, unlike in other parts of Asia where tigers are rapidly being hunted to extinction, tigers in the Sundarbans are revered. With the skill of a naturalist and the spirit of a mystic, Montgomery reveals the delicate balance of Sundarbans life, explores the mix of worship and fear that offers tigers unique protection there, and unlocks some surprising answers about why people at risk of becoming prey might consider their predator a god.
About the Author
"Part Indiana Jones, part Emily Dickinson," as the Boston Globe describes her, Sy Montgomery is an author, naturalist, documentary scriptwriter, and radio commentator who has traveled to some of the world's most remote wildernesses for her work. She has worked in a pit crawling with 18,000 snakes in Manitoba, been hunted by a tiger in India, swum with pink dolphins in the Amazon, and been undressed by an orangutan in Borneo. She is the author of 13 award-winning books, including her national best-selling memoir, The Good Good Pig. Montgomery lives in Hancock, New Hampshire.