Interview with India Edghill about her new epic of 1870s India, A Tiger in the Garden

India Edghill’s latest novel A Tiger in the Garden is a sweeping epic set in the isolated Indian hills in the Victorian era. At its heart is the intricate battle of wills – and transforming relationship – between Lily Shawcross, a dark-haired English girl of just sixteen, and Sherdil, Rajah of the independent Indian state of Sherabagh.  Both become victims of the schemes of the same woman, Princess Lilavati of Sherabagh – who is Sherdil’s cousin and Lily’s old schoolfriend from England. Duped into taking Lilavati’s place as Sherdil’s would-be bride upon her arrival in Bombay, Lily is furious and wants to find a way back to her relatives in India.  For his part, Sherdil desperately needs Lily to continue the deception, since if any of the British discover an English girl was kidnapped into his hands, consequences would be severe both for him and for Sherabagh’s independence.

There are good reasons why others accept that Lily is really Lilavati; you'll have to read the book!

From a ride within a jeweled howdah atop an elephant to the luxurious zenana (secluded women’s quarters) of the Tiger Palace in Sherabagh, the novel is exquisitely detailed. Lily’s emotional maturity over the course of the story makes for a compelling journey, as does the slow-burning chemistry between her and Sherdil. As in her previous works of Biblical historical fiction, India Edghill brings to life the rivalries and friendships between women. Similar to M. M. Kaye's historical novels about India, this is a lengthy, involving read that lets you get to know the characters very well and vicariously spend time amid the novel's locale and culture.

When I’d interviewed India about Queenmaker: A Novel of King David’s Queen way back in 2001, she’d spoken about her novel-in-progress, A Tiger in the Garden, which I’m delighted to have had the chance to read in published form at last.  Thanks to the author for answering my interview questions.

It was over 20 years ago you’d told me you were working on A Tiger in the Garden, which you’d called “an epic novel of romance and adventure set in India in 1879.” I remember looking forward to reading it, back then, and was so happy to hear the news that the novel was done and about to be published! I’m always interested in learning how historical novels were conceptualized. What can you share about the origin story for this one?

The genesis for Tiger was actually very simple: I wanted to tell a “switched identities” story in which the main characters knew about the switch – yet it made no difference to how the action unfolded. It wound up taking me years of work and thousands of words to achieve what turned out to be quite a different story. (Similarly, Margaret Mitchell said of Gone With the Wind that she wanted to tell the story of a violent marriage – that of Scarlett and Rhett; it took her hundreds of pages to actually get to that story.)

It’s hard to believe that Tiger’s been in process for twenty years! Of course, much of that time was spent in research, and some of it on writing projects for St. Martin’s. And when I say “research,” I mean I fell deeply into the sheer joy of learning about people, places, and events I hadn’t known existed. When I started Tiger, the only way to acquire the books and articles I needed was by a combination of interlibrary loan and sheer luck. For instance, I happened upon a copy of General Roberts’ memoirs in a secondhand bookshop in Dublin, Ireland, which was pure luck. As time went on, new venues for acquiring research materials opened up, and I took full advantage of them. It was delightful to be able to find what I needed by typing in a title or author and clicking a search button! I admit I may have overdone it just a bit – my India library wound up being nearly 500 volumes.

Talitho Press (2025)

So I have to confess I went overboard on research. But research is such fun! And India is a treasure-trove of amazing facts. I kept finding more and more interesting and sometimes just plain bizarre information. When I discovered there was a Hindu tribe in the Himalayas that actually ate beef, I admit I was flabbergasted. Discovering that white leopards existed was just plain delightful, and I promptly bestowed some upon my heroine.

Some research was more difficult than anticipated. On of the back-story characters is a freelance European adventurer in the early 1700s. For him, I needed information about 1690s Poland – which turned out to be amazingly hard to sift through. Thanks to the Internet and the kindness of strangers, I was able to find the information, but I was surprised at how difficult it was to discover.

As time went on, the story grew in all directions. Although it doesn’t necessarily make it into the novel, I wound up knowing all about even minor characters and incidents, including who the wound up eventually marrying. In one instance, that of the child Moti’s mother, who is just a walk-on, I realized she had brought her daughter north to escape the horrendous famine of 1876-78. This has nothing to do with the main story!

And as time went on, it grew harder and harder to let the story go; I loved all the characters so much! Eventually I had to force myself to declare it done and hand it over to my agent. But letting it go was a wrench. 

The décor within the zenana at Sherabagh is beyond sumptuous and decadent. I can imagine how much fun it was to imagine such a place into existence (at least in a fictional sense). What was this experience like? How did you recreate and design a plan for the Tiger Palace?

Oh, yes, that was great fun. I spent a lot of time immersed in books about India’s royal architecture, especially books with full-color illustrations. I modeled the Sherabagh palace and zenana on the older Indian palaces; places that grew and adapted over the course of centuries. The Sherabagh palace dates back a very long way; into the mists of semi-history, and was added to until it sprawled over a hillside and became a veritable labyrinth. Some portions of it are now deserted, and have become a habitation of various kinds of wildlife – as is seen in Lily’s war with the monkeys when she tries to tidy up the Old Palace.

Unlike (for example) Simla, which features in many historical novels, Sherabagh’s an independent state, and Sherdil naturally wants to avoid its being overtaken by the British. You get a good sense of the political climate in the novel, and the reader’s always aware of it in the background. How did you decide how much of the politics to weave into the story?

That was a tough one; the politics is vital to the story, but the story has to come first. And different characters view the politics of the time very differently. I tried to provide enough political information for the reader without overwhelming them with detail. And I tried to show how a historical incident can be seen through different eyes; Sherdil and his brother-in-law Kishore are both Indian rulers, but they view British politics and policies quite differently.

Lily is expecting to have a grand, exotic adventure when she comes to India, but she’s so young and sheltered that she has little experience with life and even less with men. How did her character develop during the writing process?

Originally Lily was your basic “I know everything about India” English character who was going to Learn A Lesson About Reality. But as time and writing went on, she developed into a more fully-rounded person, one who learns and grows, yes but who does that from a position of intelligence and good will. She changes from a well-meaning child to an adult woman, one who, as one reader put it, “releases the queen within.” I found it very hard to stop writing about her and release her into her happy future.

What made you decide to include shorter stories from earlier points in time (usually cross-cultural love stories) within the larger novel? Did you write them first, fit them in later, or some of both?

The “What’s Past is Prologue” stories were part of the novel from its inception. Each examines a relationship of both love and politics; some happily, others not. I wanted to explore how people could adjust and compromise to create a viable future for themselves; the stories echo that of Lily and Sherdil, the happiest story of adjustment and accommodation. I love all of the characters dearly – although I admit to being frustrated by Alice and Nataraj, who throw over everything for passionate love, but who are incapable of developing that into a true and enduring love.

You’ve mentioned that you’re a big M. M. Kaye fan. How does her work inspire you?

Oh, she’s marvelous! She was born in and lived for many years in India, a place she dearly loved, and that love radiates through her epic novels The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon. Her descriptions are deeply evocative and her characters are deeply felt. I re-read her books often, and The Far Pavilions was my guiding star during the years I was writing A Tiger in the Garden.

And even better, while researching Kaye I met someone who s now a good friend of mine: Michael Kourtoulou, whose website www.mmkaye.com is a comprehensive survey of Kaye’s work. Thanks to Michael I was able to see The Far Pavilions musical in London in 2005, and he’s been a staunch supporter of Tiger.

What led you back to independent publishing with A Tiger in the Garden? Was your original indie publishing experience (with Queenmaker, before it was picked up by St. Martin’s) helpful at all with the process?

I do seem to have come full circle, don’t I? Well, first I handed Tiger over to my agent, and she loved it. But alas, editors, while personally liking the book, decided it was not a time period and setting (India 1878) that was marketable, and that it was way too long. (Oddly enough, “not a time period and setting that was marketable” is what was said about Queenmaker back in the 90s, which is why I wound up self-publishing it. Then The Red Tent hit big and suddenly Biblical women fiction was in demand and St. Martin’s bought it. Publishing is one crazy ride!)

My previous experience with indie publishing was so long ago that the entire playing field has changed. Now I was able to publish Tiger for free using Amazon’s publishing platform. While it cost me a month of struggling with formatting, it was basically pretty easy – and I was very pleased to be able to keep the cost down to $2.99 for the Kindle edition and $16.95 for the trade paperback.

And while I miss interacting with them on a daily basis, I’m glad to have Lily and Sherdil’s story out in the world at last.

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Visit India Edghill's website to learn more about A Tiger in the Garden and her other historical novels.