Sahira was a very 'real' character to me. Like others have mentioned, this book draws similarities in my mind with 'The Little Princess' and I think 'The Secret Garden' somewhat. These were just the kind of books I loved as a child. Overcoming real adversity, division and racism, Sahira (and the tigers) are a great addition to children's literature. Recalling the time when the Tower of London's menagerie was still present at the Tower. This fascinated me. I would recommend this book heartily to my class, as I think the fact that Sahira is so strong, motivated and real as a character works well within this book. She has spirit, a real embodiment of the kind of constant problem solving and resilience needed for the time, despite everything that she experiences. Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley!

Well, this one was not what I was expecting and not in a good way. There were so many issues that I had with this book. Let's start a list
1) There was so much hate throughout the whole entire book. I understand that that was the attitude of the British back (I am NOT supporting it) then but it was completely unnecessary and over the top to have racism on every other page. There was no point in including that much and it added nothing to the story.
2) This is advertised as a Christian middle-grade book and she prays a number of times throughout. Alright, I have no issues with that. However, I did not like what was included after the prayers. It was something along the lines of, "But God didn't answer her prayers, ___ did." Just no.
3) And finally, as I mentioned before, this is advertised as a Christian middle-grade book. Keep that in mind. A random person appeared for a scene of the book by the name of Charles Darwin. Yes, The Charles Darwin and he have a lecture on evolution and Darwinism and the likes of that. Please don't advertise this as a Christian book if the contents are completely against doctrine.
Note: In the physical copy of the book, the font is extremely small -- smaller or on par with adult fiction. I found myself not able to actually read the font and ended up reading an e-copy of the book. Just keep that in mind if you do decide to pick this one up.
That's all I have to say for this review and I will not be reading anything else by the author.

Rating: 1.5/5
Romance: n/a
Language: n/a
Spiritual: MC raised as Christian and Muslim, Darwinism
Violence: Her parents died, racism, bullying

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not required.

Review will be published on Nov. 24 on the blog and a spotlight will be posted on Nov. 16 to the blog and insta.

I loved this story! It reminded me of the Little Princess and the Secret Garden, with characters and misfortunes worthy of a Charles Dickens novel.

Sahira is brave and determined to care for her tigers, even after losing both her parents on the voyage to England and being forced into a harsh orphanage where criminals have the upper hand and the proprietor is greedy and cares nothing for his charges.

She makes friends and braves many challenges on her quest to help her tigers. And she helps many other people along the way, never once backing down or giving in to bullies, no matter how much trouble she lands herself in.

I was rooting for Sahira the whole time, and thoroughly enjoyed reading about her adventures and exploits and especially her love for the animals. Middle grade readers of all ages will love this adventure that's full of heart.

*I am participating in an upcoming blog tour for this book. I will post my reviews on my blog and tumblr blog on November 19.

The Tigers in the Tower, a retelling of A Little Princess, may have done away with some of its source material’s Victorian racism, but it’s also lost its magic. Where the Burnett original glimmers and gleams like a hidden gem, The Tigers in the Tower is more like dull brass. It just falls flat, from the stilted, dry prose, to the insipid characterization. Somehow, this rendition of the tale keeps most of the unfairness and brutality of its young heroine’s treatment, while losing everything that made her shine despite it. Sara Crewe has her faults - arrogance and a short temper chief among them - and, as any good middle grade story’s protagonist ought, learns and grows past them. Sahira Clive, on the other hand, somehow is essentially faultless and therefore fairly boring (yes, she loses her temper, but it’s always presented as a reasonable reaction - her response to being mistreated or seeing others, usually animals, abused). Captain Crewe has plenty of faults, too, and part of Sara’s growth is in realizing the ways he messed up - but none of Sahira’s plight seems the result of her father’s spoiling of her or of his spendthrift ways, as in the original, so he, dead before the story begins along with Sahira’s mother, is simply a non-entity. Even the villains of the piece have less personality, either good or bad but ultimately just human traits, than Miss Minchin, one of my favorite antagonists in children’s literature. Miss Minchin has very real, human reasons to be jealous and cruel and hateful toward Sara, and her shift from fawning over the little rich girl to abusing her as a drudge is critical to her character and to the story; in comparison, the Pences, who keep the orphanage in which Sahira finds herself, are simply Bad People. It’s just uninteresting.

The story suffers, too, from the decision to start with Sahira already orphaned and essentially penniless, a supposed burden on the English people around her, so that all the contrast to her earlier life has to be made through her own comparisons. A Little Princess is iconically a riches to rags (then back to more deserved riches) story, while The Tigers in the Tower loses that angle and thereby loses a lot of the appeal. It’s all just....flat. A little colorless. Insipid. And considering how fun "A Little Princess, but with tigers" sounds, that's a shame.


Content warnings: parent death, child abuse, corporal punishment, animal neglect, animal death.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lion Fiction for the advance review copy!

This book really took me by surprise. A beautifully written story about Sahira Clive and her tigers, Rama and Sits.
Sahira has been orphaned on the journey to England and is separated from her beloved tigers.
The story is about love, friendship and understanding and is written beautifully. I was gripped from the beginning.

Well this was a truly delightful tale. My heart broke for Sahira during her days at the orphanage. I can’t imagine feeling like you have no one to love you or even care for you. It made me think of all the children who are either without a home or without a loving home. I loved her and Ned’s friendship and how it developed through the story. Not to mention the one family member who sought to include her even though as a child himself, there was not much he could do. I love how Sahira cared and demonstrated her feelings for the tigers. Oh that we all had something or someone we would fight for and fiercely defend.

This was such a fun imaginative story. I can’t wait to share this with my own children.

I really enjoyed this book! I used to love “A Little Princess”, so I was excited to read a new book based on that classic. I really liked Sahira, though I felt sad for her for all she went through. Just like a “A Little Princess”, this books packs an emotional wallop!

I loved the contrast of cultures. Sahira lived in India before going to England and it was interesting to see the differences between the cultures. I felt bad for Sahira because many characters in the book didn’t accept her culture and tried to change her and suppress who she was.

I liked how Sahira relates to people by comparing them to animals. For example, when some people gang up against Sahira, she thinks of what happens when ducks gang up against a solitary one and how vicious they can be. Her father worked with animals and taught her many things, so that is how she understands people’s actions, through a lens of how different animals act.

I really enjoyed this book! It is beautifully written, and I loved Sahira!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a refreshing book to read. The main character, Sahira has to make her way alone in the world after tragedy strikes her parents.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher Lion Fiction for this ARC in exchange for a true honest review.

I have to say that this was my first book by Julia Golding and after reading this beautiful book and story, she is now one of my favorite writers that I'm going to follow.
This is one of the best stories I've read this year, it made cry, resent the human beings, then smile and feeling hopeful.
What an amazing story. My heart broke for this little girl facing all these insufferable situations with all those horrible people. She faced death, discrimination in all its high colors and violence. A little girl of two different cultures one Indian Muslim and the other British Christian, facing the lost of her parents in their travel to England with a cargo of two tigers to deliver to the menagerie in the tower of London. Sahira Clive discover the ugly truth about how people see her because of her complexion and not as just the daughter of Captain Clive. She is seen and judged as a savage unwanted orphan and thrown into a horrible orphanage where she will learn how to face bullies and injustice the bad way. But she made good friends that will help her in her little odyssey to get back to her true home and family. You can not not get attached to this little girl and feel for her. She is amazing, smart, kind, beautiful and emotionlly spiritual. I loved everything about her.

I loved Sahira's story and character, it reminded me of all these books: "Anne and the Green Gables" with "Little Princess" and "The book of the Jungle". It was a page turner that I could not stop reading when I got the time to start it.

Free ARC provided by NetGalley, thank you so much.

Sahira’s family are travelling to England to deliver two Indian tigers to the menagerie in the tower of London.
But tragedy strikes and Sahira’s parents die on the journey. Upon arrival in a England Sahira finds herself confined to a miserable and dangerous orphanage as the English side of her family refuse to have anything to do with her all because of her mixed heritage. Sahira is determined to carry out her father’s last request and protect her tigers despite threats she's facing every day.

What a marvelous little story of a young girls love for the animal kingdom. Sahira is facing all sorts of challenges but she stops at nothing to ensure the tigers well being and even though it is absolutely heart breaking to read parts of it you know that all things will end well when someone this passionate and determined has taken upon themselves to protect you

I'm going to get my daughter to read this because I know she's going to love it

The tigers in the tower is quick, middle-grade story. The story starts with Sahira, a girl who, at the start of the story, lost her parents while they were on a ship from India to England. The only thing she has left, are her two tigers, but as soon as she ends up in England, a man named mr. Cop takes them. He is another animal collector, just like Sahira’s dad was. It is there where the story picks up, because now with nothing, Sahira gets placed into an orphanage. She meets some new girls there, ones that she sees as her friends. At the same setting, she meets her so called enemies, 2 brothers who wants only her boots at first.

It is also where a lot of characters are introduced that my brain couldn’t remember that well. Normally, I don’t mind big casts but in this case, I felt like most of the background characters weren’t fleshed out enough, so they all got mushed together. Throughout the book, it keeps happening, causing me to in the end forget a lot of them and how important they are. What might had helped that case, is to have a list of names somewhere in the book. Many of the characters are big families, which I guess was normal for that time. Keeping in mind it is middle grade, it could have helped to have a smaller cast.

Sahira, on the other hand, is a strong main character. It is clear she is grieving and she does overcome her obstacles throughout the book. She loves animals, even gives some facts throughout the book about them, and her intelligence is also what shines throughout the book. It is nice to see that she is a strong lead, but I guess that is also why many other characters just felt flat, even for a middle grade. It is tricky when you put such strong main characters with all their emotions and feelings next to people who are clearly there to do one things and that is either be on the side of the main character or be against them. I still liked reading from her point of view, though, mostly because of those emotions that felt so real and fair.

All by all was it nice quick read that I again needed, featuring a strong main character and an very interesting setting, London in the 1930s.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an excellent historical fiction middle grade set in 1830s London. Our main character, Sahira, is the daughter of an English lord's son and an Indian noblewoman, who are travelling from India to England to deliver two tigers to the Tower of London. We learn that a tragedy has occurred as Sahira's parents have died on the voyage. Instead of exploring England with her parents and meeting her father's family, Sahira finds herself alone and unwanted and is placed in a grim orphanage. Well alone that is except for her two tigers. As the only link to her parents and her previous life, Sahira is determined to make sure they are taken care of. However, as you might expect, two tigers are not easy to look after and Sahira goes through many adventures, making new friends along the way.

Sahira's wonderful personality shines out of this book and she is just a joy to follow as a main character. Her intelligence, her love for animals, her sense of justice and her determination make for a very compelling character. You really want her to succeed and you feel each unfairness and disappointment along with Sahira. The animals she meets and the friends she makes all add to the charming feel of this story.

For those who like to learn new information while being entertained by the story, the author has clearly done a lot of research and there are many historical details. As well as learning about the history of the Tower's menagerie, the story shows people's attitudes to exotic animals at the time and the ways in which they were treated. The time period is portrayed very well and we glimpses into the power of the government, the establishment of the police force and the methods of transport being used at this time.

The atmosphere created by the author is spot on. Sahira's experiences at the orphanage have an Oliver Twist/Jane Eyre feel to them and the villains are truly Dickensian. When Sahira tells tales of her life in India, she brings wonder and colour to the story and you can picture her running free with her animals.

Throughout the story, the author addresses themes of belonging, understanding and prejudice (against race, sex and religion). Sahira's appearance leads many people to make assumptions about her before they even get to know her. While the setting is historical, the issues covered are still so relevant today.

I would recommend this book to readers aged 8+ who like historical settings or stories with animals. Be aware the book does include parental death, a scene of corporal punishment and other violence to children.

One of my biggest problems with NetGalley is that it doesn’t detail the genres. MG fiction can cover a lot of things. To me, based on the cover and description, this book seemed like an interesting adventure novel in Victorian England. I was even hoping for some magic. I became disappointed because of this. If it had been categorized as historical, I wouldn’t have started it.
So, about the book: Sahira travelled with her parents from India to England to start a new life. Her parents died on the way, leaving only the two tigers left for her, which were bought by the Tower Menagerie. Meanwhile, Sahira is taken to an orphanage.
50% of the book was about Sahira's stories and nothing happens ... He just tells about how she lived, how much everyone hates her, or maybe about India ... For me, that’s not enough for a book. I was bored... In the end, I just started to enjoy it, I started to like its atmosphere. That's why I rated 3 stars in the end.
What I most hate about a book is meaningless bullying and violence. This theme is something that I can't understand and it is simply irritating that people treat each other this way. If it hadn’t been a book from NetGalley, I would have DNF it. This year I already DNFed a book for this reason. It’s just awful to read that someone treats others this way just because they can do it. It is so bad for my mental health, I can't read about it. That’s why I don’t like reading books that take place in high school because it common topic there.
Racism was a topic also, but I don’t think that was the main thing.
Sahira would have been hurt anyway because her character is so strong, so it was weird that the writer was built the book on racism. I was annoyed by Sahira, sometimes acted very childish, and was too stubborn.
This book wasn’t my style, and I’m a little sorry that since I didn’t know exactly its genre, I requested it and now I had to rate it down.

The Hungarian version of the review:
Az egyik legnagyobb gondom a NetGalley-vel, hogy nem részletezi a kategóriákat. Az, hogy MG fikció sok mindent fedhet. Számomra ez a könyv a borító és fülszöveg alapján egy érdekes kalandregénynek tűnt a viktoriánus Angliában (végül kiderült, hogy kicsit korábbi). Reménykedtem még egy mágikus szálban is. Aztán csalódnom kellett. Ha írta volna, hogy sima történelmi könyv, biztos bele sem kezdek.
Szóval a könyvről: Sahira szüleivel elindult Indiából Angliába, hogy új életet kezdjen. Szülei útközben meghaltak, így csak a két tigris marad neki belőlük, amit a Towerben levő állatkertbe vettek meg. Közben Sahira árvaházba kerül.
A könyv 50%-a arról szólt, hogy Sahira mesél. Semmi sem történik... Csak mesél, hogy hogyan élt, mennyire utálja mindenki, mennyire rossz neki, vagy lehet valamilyen indiai dolgot mesélt... Nekem ez nem elég egy könyvhöz. Untam... A végén kezdtem csak élvezni, kezdett megtetszeni a hangulata. Ezért lett 3 csillag a vége.
Amit legjobban utálok egy könyvben az értelmetlen bully-ing. Ez a téma az, amit nem tudok sosem megérteni, és egyszerűen irritál, hogy emberek így bánnak egymással. Ha nem NetGalley-ről kapott könyv lett volna, félbehagytam volna. Idén már hagytam abba ez okból könyvet. Egyszerűen szörnyű olvasnom arról, hogy valaki így bánik másokkal csak mert kedve van hozzá. Ezért sem szeretek olyan könyveket olvasni, amik középiskolában játszódnak, mert ott is mindig megjelenik ez.
Amúgy rasszizmus is téma volt, de szerintem nem ez volt a fő dolog.
Sahirát így is, úgy is bántották volna, mert nem egy meghunyászkodó természet, ezért ez nem valahogy fura volt, hogy erre építkezett az írónő. Engem idegesített Sahira, néha nagyon gyerekesen viselkedett, és túl önfejű volt.
Ez a könyv nem az én stílusom volt, és kicsit sajnálom, hogy mivel nem tudtam pontosan a műfaját, bevállaltam, és most le kellett pontoznom.

On her journey from India to 1830 London Sahira becomes an orphan. Being mixed race (daughter of a British Captain and a Persian noble woman) she doesn’t fit in anywhere, and we follow her as she tries to find a home for herself and her tigers.

This is a great story about the prejudices (both regarding race and sex) Sahira faces as a ‘savage’. It is about mourning for the loss of her parents. And it is about fighting for what is right and never giving up on your dreams. It was heartbreaking to read about the life Sahira found herself in the orphanage. It was so unfair. And yet she never gave up, and never gave in to the bullies. She really was an admirable main character to follow.

And then there were the animals. It was sad to see the way they were treated then, but also great to read they were in the process to understand them better, and to try and make them actually happy. I also loved the small role Darwin had to play in the story.

I cannot comment on the cultural accuracy Julia (a white woman) portrayed in this book, but to me she seemed knowledgeable enough. Sahira is raised with both Christian and Muslim customs, and speaks English and Farsi, as well as Hindustani. She gets annoyed when being mistaken for Hindoo, and does speak all three languages throughout the book.

For all the sad and unfair moments that make your heart ache, this book has a very happy ending, which also nicely wraps everything up. I am very happy I read this book, and would like to thank Netgalley to provide me with a copy for review.

I will not be reading this book, as it is a book heavily influenced and centering Desi culture but written by a White author. At the time of requesting, I was unaware of this.

Sahira lost her parents to fever on board the ship which was taking them to London by The East India Company representatives who her father worked for.
Along side her are two tigers that were being delivered to the menagerie in the Tower of London but before her father died he asked her to keep a promise to protect them. Arriving at London she had no where to go as no one would take care of her because of her native background, the only place would be an orphanage. This is her journey to find a way to get back to them and fulfil her promise.

I truly loved this story. It was so heartwarming and played with all my emotions. Sahira is a intelligent 12year old girl who would not be accepted because of her ethnicity. This quote just sums up her struggles that no one cares for her and that the tigers is all she has left to feel close to her parents.
“But one look at that unfortunate complexion and they will know” sniffed Mrs Bingham. “There’s no whitewashing her scandalous birth.”

The detailing in this story is perfection and I could imagine every scene in my mind like it was a movie.

I was kindly given the opportunity to read this in advance, thanks to Lion Hudson Ltd through NetGalley for an exchange for an honest review.

“Sahira knew only too well how they felt. Fitting in with this new London life felt a little like sloughing off her old ways, revealing a new and vulnerable skin.”

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this book for review.

CW: Bullying, physical abuse, child abuse, grief, loss of parents.

Sahira doesn’t have an easy time from the first time she steps foot on the page. Traveling to a new country, she’s already lost her family and she’s about to lose her animals, which she’s come to think of as family, too. Whilst dealing with grief, she’s thrown into a land that doesn’t want to accept her as who she is and is desperate to bend her to their will. It’s not an easy story to read and yet it’s really impactful.

Sahira is a really inspiring character. Not only does she always fight for what she believes in and the people that might be less fortunate than her, but she doesn’t give up. She just brushes herself down and tries again – which is hard. She’s constantly being battered from multiple directions, but she just ties the laces on her blue boots tighter, holds her chin up high and carries on. She kind of defies gender conventions or, maybe more accurately, the need to fit in a gendered box, being as happy to parade around pretending to be a princess as she is to pretend to be a boy. She’s smart and brave and she’s a perfect role model for girls – especially for girls who don’t usually see themselves in books.

Sahira makes a number of different friends once she gets to London. Whilst they’re rarely perfect and aren’t always there for her, it was good to see Sahira have some light in her life. My favourite had to be Ned, with his constant gratefulness for Sahira and his love of a certain striped beast.

Her best and most loyal friends are, of course, the tigers. I loved her relationship and the loyalty she returned to them. I also really appreciated the gentleness and understanding she put into each species. I really hope she got to become an explorer when she became older.

I loved how Sahira’s experiences translated onto her view of the world. Of course it would be easier for her to understand and navigate this huge, scary city if she thinks of it as a familiar jungle.

The orphanage felt like a suitably depressing place. Sahira did better than most to keep her hopes up, but my heart broke for every time they came crashing down. I really despised everyone in that orphanage (bar maybe two) and all I wanted to do was give Sahira a hug.

I’ll be honest, I had a little issue with the pacing. The start was felt quite dense and, when mixed with this overwhelming sense of sadness, it felt a little slow. I thought it really picked up when Sahira started visiting her tigers again and interacting with other children that were interested in the animals’ welfare. I found the end to be really fun and exciting, though, and I liked the high-stakes side of it. It felt like a satisfying happy ending.

Sahira is a young Indian/English girl who just lost both her parents while traveling to England. All Sahira has left to her name is the clothes in her trunk and the blue boots on her feet. The last remembrance of her parents are the two tigers, Rama and Sita, who were saved from death and are now with her on the journey to England. Sahira must live in an orphanage and adapt to the ways of English society. Along the way, Sahira learns a lot about life, friendships, and a love for her tiger friends that no one can deny. This book felt like a mash up of Annie and A little Princess. I highly recommend this read to anyone who enjoys a courageous young lady protagonista. The only downside for me was the ending; which fell a little flat. The ultimate showdown did not live to my expectation or excite me like other books of it's kind have done before. But with that aside, I am overall pleased with this novel.

Firstly, I'd like to say that this book made me sad, cry, angry, happy, laugh out loud, groan in annoyance, roll my eyes, curl my hands up into fists <i>and simultaneously</i> make me want to stop reading completely and never put it down.

Sahira arrives in London after a long voyage across the sea, where her parents died due to illness. She is the protector of two Tigers, both of whom find her presence a comfort even within the cage they are on.

As much as I would like to say everything got better from there - it didn't. Be ready for the stream of 'oh it'll get better!' to dashed or set back, because this is an emotional roller coaster - but one that is worth seeing through to the end.

The animals in this book, and the fact that we finally have a female who cares and understands for them is amazing. Love the name drops for those who would have actually been in London at this time, like Wellington and Darwin.

The racism Sahira faces makes me so sad. I wish I could have wrapped her up and helped her - especially when adults thought they knew better simply because they were older. We all know that isn't always the case! There are so many adults in this book I would have happily carted off for hurting Sahira.

Not the usual type of book I'd read, and even though I felt emotional while reading this book - it was worth reading. Enjoy the ride!

TRIGGER WARNINGS SHOULD BE USED FOR THIS BOOK. Publishers please think about this more next time!

I received an advance reader copy ofthis book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This was an emotional read about a young mixed race girl who had become an orphan in the 1820s. The orphanage situation is heart wrenching in places as it must of been awful for children living in them in those days.

The animal parts of this book were amazing. I loved how they were incorporated in with the story and found it fascinating.

This is a fantastic story for children aged 9-15.