AUNT TIGRESS

This debut contemporary fantasy cleverly blends Chinese and First Nations folklore with a famous Child Ballad into a tale about one young woman/magical tiger’s journey toward accepting herself and averting an apocalypse.

After her tiger father died in a mysterious car crash, Tamara Lin fell more heavily under the dark influence of his sister, Aunt Tigress, who only reluctantly accepted her exodus from China to Canada. Cut off from her familiar sources of magic, Aunt Tigress has always been determined to seize power from the First Nations supernatural forces, however resistant they are to giving it up. After her unwitting complicity in one such conflict, Tam literally cut all ties with her aunt, severing their mystical bond with scissors, and has tried to behave as much like a human as she can. But now, Tam is being menaced by a mysterious creature, and Aunt Tigress has apparently been murdered. If she is to discover the true nature of what threatens her, Tam will have to embrace the more mystical and violent aspects of her being and potentially threaten her budding relationship with Janet, a human classmate who has a link to Tam’s troubled history with her aunt. The person with a terrible past who’s trying to redeem themself is a common trope. Such characters typically cope by being cold and/or stoic, or by making an effortful attempt at kindness and serenity. Here, the protagonist’s attempts to smother her dreadful guilt and bloody impulses result in anxiety and shyness. Tam thinks she wants to be invisible, but the world—and her essential self—won’t let her do it. The result is a more interesting and far more genuine individual; the stakes for Tam’s integrity and love life seem far more fraught, and the violent acts that occur are more deeply felt. The mix of cultures and mythologies in this novel is truly unique, and the reader is also left to wonder until nearly the very end if Tam and her family really are physical tigers who can assume something like a human form, or whether something more metaphysical is involved.

Astonishing, brutal, and beautifully constructed, with a powerful emotional punch; an exceptionally accomplished debut.