A Tiger in the Garden

Bronze Medalist Tenth Annual Yarde Book Promotions Book of the Year Awards 2025.NOBODY’S PAWNIn the spring of 1878, young Lily Shawcross sails from England to India. An adventurous spirit, Lily looks forward to life in the exotic India of the Raj. Also on the voyage is a friend from Lily’s school days: the beautiful and self-centered Princess Lilavati of Sherabagh. Lily and Lilavati are delighted to meet again, but for quite different reasons.For Lilavati is unwillingly returning to India to be married to her cousin, the Rajah Sherdil of Sherabagh. She sees in the sympathetic Lily a perfect pawn. Lily longs for exotic adventure – and Lilavati intends to see that Lily gets it.So when the ship docks at Bombay, Lilavati drugs the unsuspecting Lily and hands her over to the escort Rajah Sherdil has sent to bring her home. Thinking they have Princess Lilavati, the escort takes Lily and heads north to the independent hill state of Sherabagh.Of course Sherdil knows Lily isn’t his cousin, and he’s horrified to discover that he has a well-born English girl on his hands. Indian rulers had been deposed by the British for lesser offenses. Desperate to keep Sherabagh out of the grasp of the British, Sherdil decides to continue the pretense that Lily is Lilavati. He’ll take her to Sherabagh and marry her, and keep her in the Tiger Palace zenana where no one will ever find her.Lily, on the other hand, has no intention of marrying Sherdil, no intention of being hidden away, and every intention of escaping back to British India. And she’s nobody’s pawn.So begins a game of wills and wits, and the stakes are high: Sherabagh’s independence and Lily’s freedom. Only time will tell who will be the victor – Sherdil or Lily…or both. But Lilavati also plays a game in which only she can be the winner….HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- Historical Novels Review Read more