Téa Obreht already has won this year's Orange Prize for her debut novel, “The Tiger's Wife.” In its March review, the Monitor noted that "Obreht, who was born in Belgrade and escaped the Balkan War as a child, knows the magic of the words: “let me tell you a story.” While her novel has a modern frame, the heart, meat, and sinew of the novel are the tales a grandfather tells his granddaughter.” Natalia, a doctor on a humanitarian mission in an unnamed Balkan country, gets word that her grandfather, also a doctor has died on his way to join her and his effects have vanished. While she tries to find out what happened to her grandfather, she recalls the stories he told her growing up about supernatural creatures like a deathless man and an abused woman who befriended an escaped tiger. “Ladies and tigers have been united memorably several times before in literature," the Monitor review said. "Obreht’s evocative novel should rank among the most indelible pairings of all.”
