Barnes & Noble.com - Books: The Tiger in the Well (Sally Lockhart Series #3), by Philip Pullman, Mass Market Paperback, REPRINT

Synopsis

Sally Lockhart, trying to put her troubled past behind her after her fiancé's death, has settled into a comfortable life with her daughter, Harriet, her career, and her London friends. But her world comes crashing down around her when a complete stranger claims to be both her husband and Harriet's father, casting doubt on her spotless reputation. Seeking the answers to this terrible dilemma, Sally realizes with growing horror that there is a guiding hand behind all this deceit; someone who hates her so passionately that he has devoted years to bringing about her ruin. She has no choice but to escape with her child into the crime-ridden slums of London's East End. Suddenly it isn't only Sally's reputation that is in danger.

Annotation

In London in 1881, twenty-four-year-old Sally finds her young daughter and her possessions assailed by an unknown enemy, while a shadowy figure known as the Tzaddik involves her in his plot to defraud and exploit the hordes of Jewish immigrants pouring into the country.

Publishers Weekly

The conclusion to Pullman's dramatic trilogy ( The Ruby in the Smoke ; Shadow in the North ) finds Sally Lockhart searching London's slums for the source of her ruination. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)

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Biography

Best known for the multi-award-winning fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, British author Philip Pullman is one of our most distinguished writers of children's literature.

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Customer Reviews

Number of Reviews: 11
Average Rating:
Write a Review

Pretty Good
A reviewer, a reader that reads, 06/01/2007

I just recently finished this novel,by Philip Pullman. In the beginning, the new characters that were thrown at you had me confused a little bit for about the first maybe 30 pages. Towards the pre-middle, the middle, and the end, i really began to interpret and understand what was going on. There were a few brilliant twist that took place, i just couldnt stop reading it.

Dissapointing finish to what could have been a great trilogy
A reviewer (duckie55@comcast.net) , A reviewer, 03/30/2005

The Tiger in the Well was definitley a dissapointment to me. Many of the key events in the story were just too predictable. Also, I hated the fact that Jim, who was a key character in The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, and Mr. Garland, who was a minor but important character in The Shadow in the North, were absent for all but about two chapters. The final dissapoinment in this book was the newly introduced characters, mainly Daniel Goldberg. Mr. Goldberg was just too anti-everything for my taste. All in all, I think this was a let down, especially because the conclusion had the potential to the spectacular.

Also recommended: The Golden Compass trilogy

More Customer Reviews

Fact File

Name:
Philip Pullman

Current Home:
Oxford, England

Date of Birth:
1946

Place of Birth:
Norwich, England

Education:
Exeter College, Oxford University

Awards:
Guardian Children's Book Award, Carnegie Medal, Whitbread Book of the Year

Biography

Born in Norwich in 1946, Philip Pullman attended Exeter College at Oxford. He was a teacher for 12 years (and a teacher of teachers for an additional six!), and to this day he retains an avid interest in education.

Pullman wrote two adult novels in the 1970s before turning to juvenilia. The first of his children's books, Count Karlstein, is a funny-scary, gothic-tinged fairy tale published in 1982. The second was The Ruby in the Smoke (1986), a rip-roaring adventure story featuring a young Victorian girl named Sally Lockhart. Sally went on to star in a quartet of historical thrillers that helped forge Pullman's reputation.

Without question, Pullman's magnum opus is His Dark Materials, an ambitious, world-spanning trio of fantasy/adventures that offers a startling perspective on childhood, innocence, and evil. Published between 1995 and 2000, the multi-award-winning trilogy includes Northern Lights, published in the U.S. as The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; and The Amber Spyglass.

His Dark Materials incorporates iconoclastic ideas from the worlds of science, theology, and philosophy; but it is Pullman's religious views that have been placed under the most intense scrutiny. He has been accused of actively promoting an anti-Christian agenda in his books, and some critics have gone so far as to say His Dark Materials is a direct rebuttal to C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Here is what Pullman has to say on the subject:

"The religious impulse -- which includes the sense of awe and mystery we feel when we look at the universe, the urge to find a meaning and a purpose in our lives, a sense of moral kinship with other human beings � is part of being human, and I value it. I'd be a damn fool not to. But organized religion is quite another thing. The trouble is that all too often in human history, churches and priesthoods have set themselves up to rule people's lives in the name of some invisible god (and they're all invisible, because they don't exist) and done terrible damage."

Although he is often asked about the messages behind his sometimes inscrutable stories, Pullman refuses to elucidate. "I'm not in the message business," he has said. "I'm in the 'Once upon a time' business." For millions of enthralled readers, young and old alike, that's more than sufficient.

Good to Know

Interesting facts about Philip Pullman and his books:

The Amber Spyglass was the first children's book to be named the Whitbread Book of the Year.

Among the other awards Pullman has received are Britain's prestigious Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (a sort of Nobel Prize for children's literature) honoring his entire body of work.

Pullman enjoys playing the piano. "I'd like to play it well," he quips on his website. "But I can't, so the rest of the family has to put up with my playing it badly."

Pullman persuaded his publisher to let him illustrate the first two books of His Dark Materials with small, symbolic pen and ink drawings at the start of each chapter. Although these illustrations were left out of first editions in the U.S., they have been included in later editions. The third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass does not have illustrations, but chapters begin with quotations from some of Pullman's favorite writers, like John Milton, William Blake, and Emily Dickinson.

From the Publisher

Sally Lockhart, trying to put her troubled past behind her after her fiancé's death, has settled into a comfortable life with her daughter, Harriet, her career, and her London friends. But her world comes crashing down around her when a complete stranger claims to be both her husband and Harriet's father, casting doubt on her spotless reputation. Seeking the answers to this terrible dilemma, Sally realizes with growing horror that there is a guiding hand behind all this deceit; someone who hates her so passionately that he has devoted years to bringing about her ruin. She has no choice but to escape with her child into the crime-ridden slums of London's East End. Suddenly it isn't only Sally's reputation that is in danger.

Publishers Weekly

The conclusion to Pullman's dramatic trilogy ( The Ruby in the Smoke ; Shadow in the North ) finds Sally Lockhart searching London's slums for the source of her ruination. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

Pullman is fast becoming a modern-day Charles Dickens for young adults. The setting (Victorian London) is the same; the strong eye for characters large and small is there, as are the sometimes brooding atmosphere, the social conscience, the ability to spin plot within plot against a large landscape, and the occasional editorial comment. These last are not intrusive; the author's voice is that of a friend, filling in details in a story he has witnessed, not wanting readers to miss a thing. Sally Lockhart, first met in Ruby in the Smoke (1987) and Shadow in the North (1988, both Knopf), is now a young woman, left alone with a toddler since the death of her lover, Frederick Garland. Nothing prepares her for the shock of receiving a summons from a man she has never even heard of, suing her for divorce and the custody of her beloved Harriet. Two other figures emerge: Daniel Goldberg, a Jewish slum radical with a violent past; and the ironically titled Tzaddik (saint), who preys on helpless European Jewish immigrants. The Tiger in the Well is the story of their converging paths, as Sally struggles against the net closing around her and seeks to find out who is persecuting her and why. The writing style is lively and direct, and there's lots of action. While Sally's story is for mature readers, it is never sordid or sensational. This is a suspense novel with a conscience, and a most enjoyable one. --Barbara Hutcheson, Greater Victoria Public Library, B.C., Canada

Customer Reviews

Number of Reviews: 11
Average Rating:
Write a Review

Showing 1-5 Next

Pretty Good
A reviewer, a reader that reads, 06/01/2007

I just recently finished this novel,by Philip Pullman. In the beginning, the new characters that were thrown at you had me confused a little bit for about the first maybe 30 pages. Towards the pre-middle, the middle, and the end, i really began to interpret and understand what was going on. There were a few brilliant twist that took place, i just couldnt stop reading it.

Dissapointing finish to what could have been a great trilogy
A reviewer (duckie55@comcast.net), A reviewer, 03/30/2005

The Tiger in the Well was definitley a dissapointment to me. Many of the key events in the story were just too predictable. Also, I hated the fact that Jim, who was a key character in The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, and Mr. Garland, who was a minor but important character in The Shadow in the North, were absent for all but about two chapters. The final dissapoinment in this book was the newly introduced characters, mainly Daniel Goldberg. Mr. Goldberg was just too anti-everything for my taste. All in all, I think this was a let down, especially because the conclusion had the potential to the spectacular.

Also recommended:�The Golden Compass trilogy

so disappointed
A reviewer, A reviewer, 04/12/2004

I absolutely loved every other book written by p.pullman with the exception of this book. This book took advantage of a great story line with interesting characters to become political propaganda. Thats all it was. Propaganda. The first 50 pages made me want to stop reading. But I continued on because I was hoping that I was wrong. No. I finished the book and it made me feel like I had just read a history book.

Also recommended:�every other book written by philip pullman

Wonderful!
N H, a book lover, 02/16/2004

This was a wonderful novel. I am so sad that there is not anoter one. I felt that the ending was set up for a sequal, but oh well. I loved it and it is worth the time to read.

Also recommended:�The other Sally Lockhart books, Harry Potter, Dear America series, The Royal Diaries series, Memoirs of Cleopatra, and The Divorce (it's about King Henry VIII of England)

Wish There Was Another
Chelsea, Sally Lockhart Lover, 12/12/2003

After reading this book i became so sad because of the fact that there wasn't another that i could pick up. The twists and turns in this complex plot kept me on the edge of my seat throughtout the entire story.i feel like going to Mr.Pullman and begging for another!

Also recommended:�Tin Princess and the other Sally Lockhart were also fabulous.

Showing 1-5 Next

Product Details

ISBN: 0679826718
ISBN-13: 9780679826712
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 407pp
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Pub. Date: February 1992
Edition Description: REPRINT
Sales Rank: 10,502
Age Range: Young Adult
Series: Sally Lockhart Series, #3

The Tiger in the Well (Sally Lockhart Series #3) by Philip Pullman

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Biography

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