In 18th-century India, a young woodcarver named Abbas becomes an apprentice to a French clockmaker tasked with building a life-size mechanical tiger for the ruler Tipu Sultan. The magnificent creation — fierce, beautiful, and alive with movement — becomes a symbol of resistance against British rule.

When the empire falls and the tiger is looted, Abbas sets off across continents in search of his lost masterpiece, from Mysore to London’s glittering parlors, driven by art, memory, and a longing for freedom. Along the way, he must confront betrayal, empire, and the cost of ambition.

Lush, witty, and deeply humane, Loot is a sweeping adventure about creativity and colonialism, love and loss, and the power of art to defy time and conquest. Tania James brings history to life in a story that roars with imagination and heart.