The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death

A young woman is seduced by the glamour of the circus and drawn into a dangerous world of violence, cruelty and revenge. For readers of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus and Helen Oyeyemi's Mr Fox.

A dark fantasy tale infused with mystery and threat from the award-winning author whose work has been described by Paul Tremblay as “intelligent, dark, wildly inventive"

As Sara Sidorova hovers between life and death, she is visited by Amba, the tiger god who will devour creation if he is released from the chains that bind him. Amba gives Sara an extraordinary gift: a glimpse into the future.

Years later, her granddaughter Irenda will grow up in a war-torn country where survival means obedience. When a devastating attack robs her of her parents, she travels to Hrana City. There, her grandmother agrees to teach her the ultimate secret: how to tame death. In the circus, amongst the magicians, the strongmen and the contortionists, she will start down a dangerous road, to carry out a revenge decades in the making... and bring justice into the world for herself and for her family.

Rich with glamour and strangeness, brutality and deceit and the dark magic of the circus, this haunting fable from a multi award-winning author will chill your bones and make your heart ache.

Review

Praise for The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death

This is a gorgeous, brutal dream of a book. It asks questions about power and belief, about time and magic and love, and every sentence pulses with danger and beauty. It will haunt me for a long time. I implore you all to lose yourself in its strange enchantments.
--Sarah Brooks, bestselling author of The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

Extraordinary. Helen Marshall channels the best of Angela Carter then takes it up a notch or three. A gloriously bewitching new tale from one of our best fabulists.
--Angela A.G Slatter, award-winning author of The Briar Book of the Dead

The Lady, the Tiger, and the Girl Who Loved Death blew my mind, and forever changed how I looked at writing. Haunting and soaring, transcendent, and masterfully executed - Helen Marshall's talent is unparalleled.
--Tashan Mehta, author of Mad Sisters of Esi

Lyrical, beautiful and brilliant, The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death is a magic puzzle box that surprises and delights with every revelation.
--Kaaron Warren, author of The Underhistory

Chillingly beautiful, with wonder and dread in every word. Fans of Pan's Labyrinth, The Night Circus and The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands should be first in line for the big-top spectacle of Marshall's lyrical storytelling and wild imagination.
--Chris and Jen Sugden, authors of High Vaultage

It is a rare story which manages to be thoughtful and colourful at once. Angela Carter did that, and now Helen Marshall does it in her own way. A book which you can't stop reading, and then you can't stop thinking about.
--Francesco Dimitri, author of The Dark Side of the Sky+

About the Author

Helen Marshall is Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing at the University of Queensland. She has won the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award and the Shirley Jackson Award and received endorsements from authors such as Kelly Link and Paul Tremblay. Her debut novel The Migration, was one of The Guardian’s top science fiction and fantasy books of the year. She lives in Australia.