The Last Tiger brings together Ruskin Bond’s very best published animal stories as well as a brand new work, ‘The Call of the Leopard’, which has never been published before.
The title story introduces a wise and crafty tiger who survives every attempt on his life. ‘Those Three Bears’, ‘The Eyes of the Eagle’, and ‘Tigers for Dinner’ describe dangerous encounters in the wild. ‘Guests Who Come in from the Forest’, ‘Panther’s Moon’, ‘The Leopard’, and ‘Song of the Forest’ bring the wildlife of the Himalayas to vivid, memorable life. Other tales in the book tell of thrilling beetle races, the schemes of a ball-chewing crocodile, and monkeys who dance on roofs. We also meet a series of eccentric pets in this book—a friendly baby elephant, a sullen cassowary, owls who grow fond of spaghetti, the mischievous yet sensitive monkey, Toto, a narcissistic python who loves his own reflection, and others.
The beasts that stalk the pages of The Last Tiger will thrill, delight, terrify, and entertain Bond’s legions of fans, and all those with an interest in the world of nature.
Review
‘For more than half a century, he is one writer who has understood, felt and celebrated the wonder and magnificence of nature…. He yields magic with his fountain pen and paints opulent and majestic images, which we as readers can feel, experience and visualise.’
—Hindustan Times
‘[T]here is something special about the way Bond writes. There’s no flowery language. There are no extravagant situations. The emotions are simple and so are the characters; devoid of complexities but enriched with peculiarities.’
—ScoopWhoop
About the Author
Ruskin Bond is the author of several bestselling novels and collections of short stories, essays, and poems. These include The Room on the Roof (winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize); A Flight of Pigeons; The Night Train at Deoli; Time Stops at Shamli; Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra (winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award); Angry River; The Blue Umbrella; Delhi Is Not Far; Rain in the Mountains; Tigers for Dinner; Tales of Fosterganj; A Gathering of Friends; Upon an Old Wall Dreaming; Small Towns, Big Stories; Unhurried Tales; A Gallery of Rascals; Rhododendrons in the Mist; Miracle at Happy Bazaar (winner of the Kalinga Literary Festival Children’s Book of the Year 2021); It’s a Wonderful Life; The Shadow on the Wall; and Song of the Forest.
Ruskin Bond was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999, a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Delhi government in 2012, and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. He was selected for the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2021.