Tam’s grandmother was a tiger. She had her own mountain in China. Tam’s father—and Tam herself—are tigers, too, but her father died before he could teach Tam much about what it all means. The only one left to teach Tam about magic, demons, ghosts, the other realms, and all the rest is her terrifying aunt. Emily Yu-Xuan Qin’s masterful and moving novel, Aunt Tigress, is all about overdue reckonings and the painful process of growing up.
Tam has always felt like a monster. She keeps away from people and has no friends. She doesn’t always get along with her mother, either. Tam keeps her distance for two reasons. First, she carries a powerful, lethal tiger inside her human skin. Second, she helped her Aunt Tigress to do violent things that Tam is deeply ashamed of. When Tam gets word that her Aunt Tigress is dead, it’s tempting to not get involved again. But there is no one else who will see to the funeral rites if Tam doesn’t do it. No one else is willing or knowledgeable enough to know what to do. Also, there’s no way for Tam to atone for what she did with Aunt Tigress if she doesn’t slip back into the messy, terrifying borderland Tigress inhabited. Thankfully, Tam has Janet to help her find the courage to keep going.
I was immediately hooked by Aunt Tigress. Qin blends Chinese and First Nations and other belief systems to create a fascinating otherworld for her characters to cut their teeth on. Because Tam’s family are immigrants to Canada, she can’t rely on her family’s ways of doing magic or talking to the spirits. She has to seek out allies who have their own motives for helping. As the plot begins to build up steam, Qin takes breaks to give us stories about the Lord of the Plains and the Thunderbird; about demons; and about Tam’s friend Jack, a young Blackfoot man who desperately wants to regain his memories. There are also flashbacks to Tam’s time with Aunt Tigress that made me wish that someone had been there to scoop Tam up in a rescuing hug, who could tell her that tigers could be more than Aunt Tigress’s version.
I don’t have the words to praise Aunt Tigress without sounding like a complete goober. Just imagine that I’m using every superlative I know to talk about the setting and emotional depth of this book. I adore books where nothing is too easy for the protagonists. I like to see them work for knowledge and growth. Aunt Tigress definitely delivers on that. I also love books that can pull disparate stories—history, legends, religions, etc.—together into an original, holistic narrative. They leave me with all sorts of research rabbit holes to fall into later, while also marvelling at the author’s talent at weaving them together. Truly, I cannot say enough good things about this book.