Synopses & Reviews
Set against the exotic backdrop of India, this absorbing novel effortlessly weaves together the life stories of three fascinating women. Mourning the recent loss of her Anglo-Indian father and suddenly aware of her own mortality, Claire, a 30-something documentary filmmaker, travels from Canada to India to meet her last remaining relative, an elderly cousin named Charlotte. As Claire rummages through Charlotte's keepsakes, she discovers the untold story of her own grandmother, Alice Maud Spencer, the wife of Gandhi's jailer in the waning days of the Raj. As she digs deeper into the mystery of her grandmother's life and death, Claire experiences visitations from a mysterious female tiger who gives her clues to Alice's story - and to Claire's own life. A layered, sensual, and deeply satisfying novel, Tiger Dreams reflects the complex nature of history and of India itself, combining a sweeping story and intriguing characters with the writer's poetic sensibility and love of place.
Review
"[A]n intense evocation of time and place....Miller has accomplished much with Tiger Dreams." Quill and Quire
Synopsis
Filmmaker Claire travels to India to piece together the story of her grandmother, who was the wife of Ghandi's jailer.
Synopsis
Here is an absorbing, brilliant first novel set in India and Canada. It begins with Claire, a thirty-seven-year-old documentary film-maker who is mourning the recent loss of her Anglo-Indian father. Claire travels from Canada to India to meet her last remaining relative, an elderly cousin named Charlotte. As Claire rummages through Charlotte's keepsakes, she discovers the untold story of her own grandmother, Alice Maud Spencer, the wife of Gandhi's jailer in the waning days of the Raj.
On the surface, Tiger Dreams is about one woman's discovery of India and her own heritage. But as Claire digs deeper into the mystery of Alice Spencer's life and death, the story takes on new meaning, weaving across generations and forms of storytelling. A layered, sensual and richly satisfying novel that combines the storytelling power and complex characters of a writer like Rohinton Mistry with the poetic sensibility and love of place of Sharon Butala.
About the Author
Almeda Glenn Miller wrote this novel for her grandmother, a woman she never knew. Almeda is the former owner of Goldrush Books in Rossland, B.C., and currently teaches creative writing at Nelson Fine Arts Centre and Selkirk College.