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Apr 13, 2024 | 
news.india24.press | Tania James
- After reading the first four parts of Tania James’ historical novel Booty, I sat there, shivering with pleasure because they had taken me to another time, with sights, sounds, smells and emotions. Set in Mysore during the reign of Tipu Sultan, these sections of the book introduce Abbas, the son of a master wood carver and a young man with a penchant for making hand-cranked moving toys.
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Apr 12, 2024 | 
scroll.in | Tania James
It is a well-known fact that of Tipu Sultan’s many children, the one he loves best is Muiz-ud-din. Muiz is five years old. His skin is as fair as his father’s, his eyes as wide and limpid, possessing the spirit and authority of a born monarch. His older brother Abdul Khaliq is considered a bit less impressive. Not just because of his dark skin or his full lips or even his flattish nose; no, the problem has something to do with his doleful countenance, as if he’s always on the verge of apologising.
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Apr 8, 2024 | 
mattbell.substack.com | Tania James |Matt Bell
In my contemporary fiction class this semester, my MFA students and I have read one novel or story collection each week, with all of our books having been published in the past ten years.
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Oct 13, 2023 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Tania James
In Tania James’ gorgeous and profound third novel, Loot (Knopf, June 13), preternaturally talented woodcarver Abbas, 17, is recruited by Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, circa 1794, to co-create a magnificent six-foot automaton with a French master craftsman. The book is on our list of the Best Fiction of 2023. James answered some questions by email.
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Aug 26, 2023 | 
thefreelibrary.com | Jenny Erpenbeck |Michael Hoffmann |Tania James |Caroline O'Donoghue
LITERARYPage 25KairosBy Jenny Erpenbeck, trans. by Michael HoffmannThis love story takes place during the collapse of East Germany. New York Times "It's a cathartic leak of a novel, a beautiful bummer, and the floodgates open early."LITERARYPage 26LootBy Tania JamesAn 18th-century automaton represents the dark, violent legacy of colonialism.
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Aug 12, 2023 | 
bookbrowse.com | Tania James
BookBrowse Media Reviews Reader Reviews Page 1 of 1 There is 1 reader review for Loot Write your own review! Kolin Loot: A Novel of Art, Adventure, and Colonialism Loot is a captivating and ambitious novel that explores the impact of imperialism on culture, identity, and love. Tania James skillfully blends historical facts with imaginative fiction, creating a vivid and rich world full of memorable characters and scenes. The novel is not only a thrilling story of a hero’s quest, but also a...
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Jul 21, 2023 | 
washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Tania James
In the late 20th century, British Sri Lankan theorist Ambalavaner Sivanandan famously wrote, “We are here because you were there.” Novelist Tania James spins that sentiment into a captivating story of love, adventure, and, yes, colonialism in her latest novel, Loot, in which a young Indian man with a talent for carving wood sculpts a new future for himself.
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Jul 5, 2023 | 
thecreativeindependent.com | Tania James
Author Tania James discusses recognizing your limitations, how teaching and motherhood shifted her relationship with time, and starting from a place of endless possibility. Part of: Developing a creative process Finding balance Making time for creative work Feeling healthy Highlights on How did growing up in Kentucky affect your writing? Massively.
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Jun 21, 2023 | 
scribd.com | Tania James
Save for Later Save Tuck Lincoln, Mozart, And Eleanor Roosevelt In Your Suitcase This Summer For LaterTania James’ dazzling, richly embroidered historical novel imagines the journey of a life-size automaton of a wooden tiger – and those connected with it – from late 18th-century India to France and England over 65 years. “Loot” is about the spoils and displacements of colonialism and the quest for betterment,
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Jun 14, 2023 | 
lithub.com | Tania James
For someone who has little patience for historical research, I never thought I’d write a novel of historical fiction. But I was attracted to the idea of writing a historical picaresque, one in which an unlikely hero—in my case, an eighteenth-century Indian woodcarver—acts recklessly to get what he wants, breaking more than a few rules along the way. I’ve always been attracted to rule-breakers in fiction, to stories that interrogate the relationship between individual and authority.
