In 1841, Nigel Halleck set out from Britain for Calcutta as a clerk in the East India Company. He served in the colonial administration for eight years before taking leave of his post, eventually disappearing in the mountain kingdom of Nepal, never to be heard from again. Despite most traces of his life being destroyed in the bombing of his home town of Coventry during the Second World War, Nigel was never quite forgotten - the family myth of the man who headed east would reverberate through the generations. A century-and-a-half later Kief Hillsbery, Nigel's nephew many times removed, embarked upon his own journey east, having promised his mother that he would search for the final resting place of their ancestor. What follows is a remarkable tale, beautifully rendered, weaving together a clash of civilizations in history, the quest to discover one's own identity and the moving tale of one man against an empire. A work of transportive power, The Tiger and the Ruby bestows upon us a very personal sense of a time and a place deep in the heart of British and Indian history.
