Tiger, Tiger

Triad Boss Lee Yung believes utterly in the curative powers of the bones and organs of the spirit tiger and is determined to obtain them to halt the progress of his cancer. His men bungle their raid on Malham Tiger Park: Lila, the spirit tiger, escapes, vowing to avenge the killing of her friends. 12-year-old Steven Hattersly forms a bond with the manifestation of Lila's spirit, a young girl - and together they outwit police, journalists and Triad killers. Lila's relinquishing of her spirit status at the end of the book is a harsh and moving criticism of our need to destroy anything we do not understand. Our sympathies lie with the tigers for their spirituality, their power, their beauty: Burgess holds the greed, violence and insensitivity of the human protagonists as an uncomfortable revealing mirror in front of his readers.