The Tiger in the Well (Sally Lockhart, #3)

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The Tiger in the Well (Sally Lockhart #3)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 5,603 ratings · 239 reviews

Sally, now 25, is comfortably settled with her child, Harriet, her work, and her London friends. But when a complete stranger claims to be both her husband and Harriet's father, Sally's whole world comes crashing down around her. With nowhere to turn, she escapes with Harriet into the slums of London's East End--and finds help in some unexpected quarters.

"Pullman is fast b...more

Mass Market Paperback, 416 pages

Published February 18th 1992 by Laurel Leaf (first published October 1st 1990)

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The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Best Victorian Historical Fiction Set In Britain

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Teen Historical Novels

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Mar 04, 2009 Violet rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors, historical-fiction, mystery, 5-stars, british

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the best out of all of them! Very very good!! It's totally a "on the edge of your seat" and "wanting to kill the villian" book. I loved it!

I always knew that Ah Ling was behind the whole thing. I mean who else from Sally's past that would want revenge? Everyone else died so it could only be him. The only thing that I didn't perdicted was that Mr. Lee was Ah Ling. That was a surprize. Okay, it wasn't that much of one. Once Sally started to learn more about Mr. Lee, I knew that he was Ah L...more This is the best out of all of them! Very very good!! It's totally a "on the edge of your seat" and "wanting to kill the villian" book. I loved it!

I always knew that Ah Ling was behind the whole thing. I mean who else from Sally's past that would want revenge? Everyone else died so it could only be him. The only thing that I didn't perdicted was that Mr. Lee was Ah Ling. That was a surprize. Okay, it wasn't that much of one. Once Sally started to learn more about Mr. Lee, I knew that he was Ah Ling. You can't fool me. I've seen to many detective and mystery shows.

There was a lot more information about that time period, too. I had no idea about the whole thing with the Jews. Of course I don't live in England, so that might explain that. Anyway, it kind of reminded me of today. Back then they were all hating on the Jews. They thought that the Jews were the source of all the problems in London, which to tell you the truth were pretty bad. Now that I think about it, it reminds me of what was happening in Germany before World War II. There was propaganda that the Jews were the people that they should hated because they are the problem of the world.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. Today people are kind of doing that with Muslims. It was Muslims that were behind 9-1-1, and it is Muslims that are attacking people in the middle east. People have a reason to hate Muslims. Do they? I mean because of this it's Muslims that are stopped at the airport more than anyone else, and being thought to be terrorists than anyone else. But not all Muslims are terrorists! Just like not all Americans are fat. You can't just tell what people are like based on their religion, race, looks, or where their from. Everyone is different. Everyone is a different human being. You can't jugde them like that! It's just not right.

This book shows a lot of the problems of London in the late 1800's. Some of them are pretty nasty and sad. Very very sad. And to think that stuff was really happened! I can't believe it. And think to that some of that stuff is happening today. Yah, today we're much better off, but some of that stuff is still going on and probably not going to stop any time soon. Horrible, right? I knew that these things were and are going on but I never really thought about them. I live a sheltered life and things like that usually don't come into my everyday life. Gosh that's really sad. I should know and think about them. Some where there's human beings going through horrible things. That matters! But again, I really am incapable of doing that. I will forget these kind of things in a day or two. It's for the best. I mean what would I do if I thought about those things all the time? I would become very very down and paranoid. I don't want to feel that. I'll just try to remember it sometimes, instead. Yah, that would be better.

There's a lot more charaters, suspense, settings, conflics, and more in this book. This is a very good ending to the Sally Lockhart series. I know what your thinking, "But what about The Tin Princess?" Yah, it's part of the Sally Lochart series but, to my understanding, Sally's not in this one. Jim is, but not Sally. So that's what I'm talking about. The end of the Sally Lockhart series.

There's more of Sally in this book. I mean with Jim away and all, there's bound to be. But there was less villian chapters and more of Sally chapters and that's a change. In the other books, Sally is not always shown. This one Sally is almost always shown.

I'm so glad that Jim got to take part of this whole mystery, though he came when everything was wrapping up. Almost the whole book I was thinking, "When is Jim going to come back?" or "I wonder what would happen if Jim was there." It was so cool to see him come back. I loved it!

The whole time I was rooting for Sally. I was mad for her, sad for her, and just plain scared for her. The whole situation was very scary for Sally. I so wanted to kill who ever was behind this whole thing. Sally didn't deserve this. How dare someone try and take her child away from her. How dare they!

So, that's it. Wow, I typed a lot. I guess that's what happens when your talking about a book that you love.(less)

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Jan 07, 2008 Jeanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, historical, young-adult

The third installment of the Sally Lockhart mysteries series is even more complex than the other two entries. It is also, unfortunately, a little too obvious, as I figured out the identity of the mysterious villain way before Sally did. And if I figured it out, everyone figured it out.

No matter, though, because Pullman still spins a decent yarn. It's about 2 years since we last saw Sally, and she is now raising Harriet, the daughter she conceived with Frederick right before he died. All seems to...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Abby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A great read. I would have given it five stars, but unfortunately Pullman wavers a bit towards the end of the book and overstates the socialism message in two of the last scenes. The socialism subplot is otherwise masterfully handled and lends intellectual depth to this mystery; it's a shame Pullman had to doubt his own powers of writing and slam us over the head with the socialism message in those two scenes.

But other than that misstep, a terrific book - riveting, multilayered, and one of those...more

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Dec 23, 2008 Blaire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, mystery

This is the 3rd in the series that I've read. I liked the first two quite a bit, but I found this one very hard to get through. I think it's because the story is short on charm and long on political viewpoint. That's not what I was looking for in a YA novel. I also found some of the aspects of the bad guys pretty nauseating. I forced myself to finish it because I knew that once I put it down I'd never pick it up again. Too bad - Pullman had a good series going.

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Dec 29, 2008 Renata rated it 5 of 5 stars

Socialism on the London docks for young adults

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Apr 30, 2013 Ape rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, england, history-fact-fiction

I am on my holiday this week and I have just finished reading this book. I love the dark materials books and although this Isn't quite as good it still is a very good read. It is reassuring to see that there can be well written young adult books out there. I seem to have managed to start reading at the end of a series of books... I always seem to manage this... But to be fair I don't think this was a problem and I could follow the plot and the book itself feels like a stand alone book rather tha...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the longest and most intricate of the books. There are several things going on: Sally's persecution by a mysterious man, persecution of Jews emigrating from Russia and other eastern European countries into England, and the struggle of Socialists in Victorian England. These three books create a path of knowledge for Sally Lockhart. In the first, she is forced to fight for herself. In the second, she learns independence (both economic and personal.) She also becomes aware that evil is not...more

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Sep 14, 2012 D.L. Morrese rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sally Lockhart is a rare woman in Victorian England. She’s a single mother, competent, independent, and a successful and prosperous business owner. She has never been married, so when she is served with divorce papers, she cannot understand how such a mistake could be made. It soon becomes clear it is not a mistake. The details about her in the document are correct -- all except one. She has never met the man claiming to be her husband, the man who wants to take custody of her daughter.
I would n...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Methodtomadness rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

(Note: really more like 3.5 stars....)

I made the mistake of accidentally starting this book before I realized it was the *end* of the trilogy...and I hadn't read the beginning volumes. A more sensible person would have put the book down and gone to the library for #1 and #2. But I was just borderline interested enough to keep reading #3, even though it was glaringly obvious that Our Heroine had had numerous exploits previously that I'd missed out on. It wasn't incomprehensible, but it wasn't ide...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Meeehhhhh, Sally's second book was good, and this one...was not.

Okay, I was still digging the setting of Victorian London. Sally, I was just at the Assyrian exhibit at the British Museum! I walked along Fleet Street. I can totally picture every single place we were hanging out. But omigosh, I cannot tell you how frustrating every other part of this book was. One, Sally is back to annoying me. Two, everybody that I liked, like Jim, is not in the book (until the end, when he, of course, saves the...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Barb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favs-of-2011, hf-victorian-1837-1901, historical-mystery, read-in-2011, ya, audio

I think this is my favorite in the Sally Lockhart series so far, I can't say enough about how wonderful Anton Lesser is as the reader.
He's amazing and his voices add so much to the story as a whole that once I started with the first audio book 'The Ruby in the Smoke' I no longer considered reading the books, it just wouldn't be the same.

So frugal as I am and consummate library patron that I am, I had to buy the audio book of 'The Tiger in the Well' because none of the libraries in my area (or...more I think this is my favorite in the Sally Lockhart series so far, I can't say enough about how wonderful Anton Lesser is as the reader.
He's amazing and his voices add so much to the story as a whole that once I started with the first audio book 'The Ruby in the Smoke' I no longer considered reading the books, it just wouldn't be the same.

So frugal as I am and consummate library patron that I am, I had to buy the audio book of 'The Tiger in the Well' because none of the libraries in my area (or any other library for that matter) have a copy of it available. I have remedied that, and now that I'm done listening, I donated my copy to our library. (And yes, I did the audio download to play on my mp3 player and it just wasn't working for me no matter how I tried it. I needed to be able to listen and drive not have to fiddle with the technology and for that I needed the story on CDs).

So, the story goes something like this: Sally Lockhart is enjoying the good life, she has a successful business and a happy if somewhat unconventional home life. She lives with her two platonic male companions Webster Garland and Jim Taylor who are away traveling in South America. Sally is the mother of a charming little girl named Harriet, Harriet's father was Fred Garland, Webster's nephew and sadly, Fred passed away before Harriet was born. The story opens as Sally is served with divorce papers for a marriage that never happened, as Sally learns more she sees that someone has a horrible hatred for her and intends to take away everything she has including Harriet. Those of us who know Sally also know she will do everything in her power to make sure that doesn't happen.

The story I loved, the historical context was wonderful. The politics, the violence and persecution of the Jews was frightening. I loved the new characters Pullman created and while it wasn't difficult to figure out who master-minded Sally's downfall it was still exciting to see her discover who it was. I thought the maternal story-line with Sally and Harriet was well done and added another layer of realism to the story. Sometimes my children listened to the story with me, they liked Harriet and thought it was funny when she called biscuits "bickets", after that they would say "bickets?" to ask for the story to be played during our travels.

I love the way Pullman threads humor through his work and several times I found myself laughing out loud. There was one point where two of the boys from the Irish gang that was helping Sally appeared in front of a constable. They were pleading their case for release in a very rapid-fire exchange of dialogue, the way that Lesser performed that scene had me in tears, gawd it was funny and reading it just wouldn't have come anywhere near it for entertainment value.

The only negative comment I have to offer is that Pullman does make Sally a bit preachy on the socialist values at the end but the story itself is so wonderful that I'm not going to hold that against it. I have already started 'The Tin Princess' and I will be sad when I'm done. I'd love to see Philip Pullman write more books in this series. If anyone knows whether or not he will could you leave me a comment and let me know...thanks very much.
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Nov 29, 2010 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a bit different from the first two Sally Lockhart books. Fred and Jim are absent from this one (for the most part). I missed them. Their presence gave a certain light heartedness and humor to the books that is lacking here. It is a much more intense and desperate situation and had me on edge for most of the book.
Sally suddenly receives divorce papers from a man she has never met. He claims to be married to her and the father of her child. He is not only seeking divorce but wants c...more

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Aug 17, 2010 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, mystery, historical-fiction, ya, own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Upon finishing The Shadow in the North , I can only say that my poor heart had been reduced to millions of teeny, tiny little pieces in the face of Sally's heartbreak and the death of her best friend and fiance Fred Garland. I was shocked and stunned to say the least. But I just couldn't stomach leaving poor Sally and friends in such a lurch so I hesitantly sat down with the next installment, The Tiger in the Well , fiercely determined that Sally would get her happy ending.

In the two years since...more Upon finishing The Shadow in the North , I can only say that my poor heart had been reduced to millions of teeny, tiny little pieces in the face of Sally's heartbreak and the death of her best friend and fiance Fred Garland. I was shocked and stunned to say the least. But I just couldn't stomach leaving poor Sally and friends in such a lurch so I hesitantly sat down with the next installment, The Tiger in the Well , fiercely determined that Sally would get her happy ending.

In the two years since Fred's death Sally has been left to raise their daughter, Harriet, alone. But her life has not been altogether unhappy. Her business has prospered and can rely on her many friends for support. In a matter of minutes however, this framework of happiness comes crashing down when Sally is being sued for divorce and custody of Harriet from a certain Mr. Parrish - a man she has never even met. Determined to combat her enemy's outrageous bluff, Sally turns to the law for help only to discover that he has created a paper trail of lies, spanning years, which only serves to tighten the noose around Sally. Most frustrating is that Sally doesn't even know why someone has set out to destroy her entire life. Finally forced to flee penniless and alone, Sally attempts to solve her most daring mystery yet. And failure is out of the question.

I thought all my fear and pain for Sally had been effectively wrenched out of me by the end of the previous book, but as I watched Sally face bitter disappointment in the face of yet another dead-end, it all came rushing back. Time and again I watched Sally's options dwindle into nothing as she desperately fights to figure out who is trying to destroy her happiness. Even more forceful is the injustice of Sally's vulnerability in the face of a prejudiced society against an unmarried woman with a child. Suffice to say, this one was a doozy.

I was intensely disappointed to discover that Jim (or Fred for that matter) does not have a starring role in this last book. In all fairness, it couldn't have been the same story if Jim had been present, but still. My poor little heart was left missing him something fierce. Somewhat interesting is the curious subplot Pullman inserts on the plight of Jewish immigrants and socialism - which on the surface seem to be incredibly random topics to be sticking into a young adult Victorian mystery, but there you have it. If anyone can make such a crazy tangent work, it would have to be Philip Pullman. (less)

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Oct 31, 2009 Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, victorian, young-adult, suspense

I didn't find this book as entertaining as the first in the series ("Ruby in the Smoke"), but that was probably intentional: it merits five stars anyhow for scaring the living daylights out of me. And I read it as an adult.

Sally Lockheart's spent the previous 2 books coming right up against the Victorian societal restrictions on women. She's managed to get away with it, too, achieving most of her goals without incurring much damage. But in this book, society whips around and bites her.

It's absol...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: technicolor-victorian, its-a-frameup

The publisher's blurb on the back of my edition of TTITW reads "THE PLOT GRIPS LIKE A DROWNING MAN AND DRAGS THE READER DEEP INTO THE SEWERS OF VICTORIAN VILLAINY." Yes. That is exactly what the plot is like/does. I would add only: "IT'S REALLY FUN TO READ AHH!"

Pullman always hero-worships his protagonists a bit, but he writes such compelling ones it's impossible to blame him. Take Sally Lockhart, our heroine: She pulls off unwed motherhood in Victorian London like it ain't no thang. She runs h...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took me a while to get to the last Sally Lockhart book. When I read The Shadow in the North the ending was just SO SAD it knocked the wind out of me. I couldn't bring myself to read the third book until last week.

I really enjoyed The Tiger in the Well. I love all the characters in these books, and Pullman's storytelling and plot is impeccable. Everything constantly moves quickly, and I was always on the edge of my seat. This was the longest of the books, but I think it took me the least time...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: victorians, london, ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The third book in the series of the Sally Lockhart Quartet is the longest and also by far the most interesting. Sally now has a two year old daughter named Harriet, whose father was the late Frederick Garland. Her financial business is successful and she live in a house in Richmond with old friends, Jim and Webster Garland, who are away in South America on a photographic assignment. But Sally's idyllic and unconventional middle-class life is shattered when she receives legal papers from a Mr Par...more The third book in the series of the Sally Lockhart Quartet is the longest and also by far the most interesting. Sally now has a two year old daughter named Harriet, whose father was the late Frederick Garland. Her financial business is successful and she live in a house in Richmond with old friends, Jim and Webster Garland, who are away in South America on a photographic assignment. But Sally's idyllic and unconventional middle-class life is shattered when she receives legal papers from a Mr Parrish, a man she's never heard of, who claims to be her husband. He is requesting custody of Harriet and he aims to ruin Sally and take her daughter and all her assets for himself. All of Victorian male society is against Sally and she is gradually stripped of everything she holds dear. Without her old friends to help her, she must once more use her wits and bravery to defend herself against the mysterious Mr Parrish as she sets out to discover the purpose of his plot and to right the injustice that he has brought upon her.

It all sounds a bit melodramatic, but as usual the writing is brilliant, suspenseful and character driven. The plot is really a chance for Phillip Pullman to explore in detail the issues of Victorian London, from women's lack of marital rights to the suffering and lack of rights of the East End poor and the Toynbee-esque charities trying to help them. We meet dockers, London gangs, Jewish refugees fleeing the pogroms and the socialist radicals among them – here represented by Dan Goldberg, the stories other hero. All of these social-historical issues are subtly woven into a dramatic and action packed edge-of-the seat story, and you never feel like Phillip Pullman is crowbarring in his research. Instead the characters who represent these issues become friends and allies of Sally in her fight against the evil Mr Parrish, his shadowy employer (whose identity is pretty obvious if you read the first two books in the series), and the patriarchal Victorian Law. As the story goes on Sally gets to witness and assist her friends in their own struggles, which, as it unsurprisingly turns out, are connected with her own.

Interestingly, there are little ideas and themes that link with His Dark Materials. The villainous Tzadick and his pet monkey that people claim is an evil spirit or a part of his soul, and that feeds him and defends him from those who would do him harm. The child kidnapping plot - albeit here seen from Sally, the Tiger-mother's, point of view. At one point, Sally and Dan Goldberg have a glass of Tokay, which is apparently a Hungarian Wine and is also a favourite tipple in His Dark Materials – I always wondered what it was.

The London detail has got more believable as the Sally Lockhart series has gone on, there was alway a quality of description but the social and historical detail seems to be much better and subtler in this book. Altogether my favourite in the series so far.(less)

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Sep 25, 2012 Laurel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

There is life after 'His Dark Materials'.

Having loved the HDM trilogy, I suppose there was always some question as to whether Philip Pullman could write something else anywhere near as engaging. Well, this book proves that he is a brilliant writer.
I am 2/3rds of the way through this book and I am gripped. This is by far the best of the Sally Lockhart Quartet that I've read (actually, I'm listening to it read on audiobook by Anton Lesser). The story has a blistering pace, and is full of tension,...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, kids-ya, library-books, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Though The Tiger in the Well is a Sally Lockhart Mystery, the "mystery" isn't so mysterious: the identity of the villain becomes apparent pretty early in the book—or, in my case, earlier: the back cover of the edition I read makes it pretty clear. But that doesn't make the book any less satisfying or even any less suspenseful: the excitement is in seeing how the different plot threads will tie together, in seeing where the connections are.

But let me backtrack. (Note: it's difficult to talk about...more Though The Tiger in the Well is a Sally Lockhart Mystery, the "mystery" isn't so mysterious: the identity of the villain becomes apparent pretty early in the book—or, in my case, earlier: the back cover of the edition I read makes it pretty clear. But that doesn't make the book any less satisfying or even any less suspenseful: the excitement is in seeing how the different plot threads will tie together, in seeing where the connections are.

But let me backtrack. (Note: it's difficult to talk about this book without mentioning some key events from the end of the last one, so if you're spoiler-averse, you might just want to stop reading now.) When the book opens, in 1881, Sally's twenty-five and living happily in Twickenham with her daughter Harriet (who's almost two) and Jim Taylor and Webster Garland, though Webster and Jim are off taking photographs in South America, leaving Sally and Harriet home with the servants. Sally's still a financial consultant and, indeed, her business is growing: she has an office in the City, a business partner, and a clerk. Her work satisfies her and her home-life is happy, even though she's basically a widow and still grieves for Fred Garland, whom she would have married if he'd lived.

Sally's happy world is shattered, though, one morning when a man with an official-looking envelope arrives. Sally opens it and finds that she's being sued for divorce—by a man she's never heard of, a commission agent named Parrish. He says they were married in 1879 but that she deserted their household, and it gets worse from there: the divorce suit also claims she's a drunkard and an unfit mother; this stranger who claims to have been married to Sally is also claiming custody of "their" daughter. It's bizarre and creepy and creates an immediate atmosphere of menace that just keeps growing: someone knows where Sally lives, knows her full name (she's really Veronica, not Sally), knows Harriet's full name and birthdate, knows that Webster and Jim are out of town, and has timed and devised this whole nasty scheme, for no reason that Sally can think of. It gets creepier as Sally starts to realize how far in advance this plot must have been laid and how much care has been taken: when she goes to check the marriage register of the church where she was supposedly wed, there is an entry there for her and Parrish, duly witnessed by two more people she's never heard of, duly signed by the priest.

Given the evidence of the marriage register, and also given Sally's horrible and condescending and judgmental pair of lawyers, the court case against her can't go well. Sally does the only thing she can think of, which is to go into hiding with her daughter, with Parrish and the police in pursuit. But it's far from easy: this being Victorian England, once the court has found in favor of Parrish, he, as Sally's husband, can claim her money and property, which of course he does, making Sally not just a fugitive but a broke fugitive, fighting an enemy she hasn't yet managed to identify, with no money or safety or space or time to think.

Meanwhile—and here's where things get interesting—Jewish immigrants are arriving in London in greater numbers, fleeing the pogroms of Russia, and someone is—or many someones are—taking advantage of them, extorting money, pushing women into prostitution, and worse, stirring up anti-Semitism and hatching plans for violence. The man behind a lot of this is known, ironically, as the Tzaddik (which means "righteous one," though clearly he's not), and another man, a socialist journalist named Daniel Goldberg, is trying to get to the bottom of the Tzaddik's dirty business. Which, it seems, is often carried out by none other than Parrish.

And so of course it ends up being all tied together, the nastiness Goldberg's investigating and the nastiness Sally's stuck in. (One of the great pleasures of the book is the scene in which the two of them meet, both of them smart and fierce and formidable.) The double plotline keeps things from getting too claustrophobically focused on Sally's nightmarish situation, as it expands the cast of characters but also the whole view of the book, bringing in more of London and more of the larger world, and also bringing in a social conscience, as Sally learns more about how the poor of London live. I loved this passage, when Sally walks through Lambeth one day when she's feeling particularly stressed and realizes that the city she knows isn't the only city:

She didn't know this side of the river, and before long she was lost. That suited her; if she didn't know where she was, no one else would either. Long terraces of mean little dwellings, railway bridges, a prison, a hospital, chapels, a grand square of elegant eighteenth-century houses, an engineering works, a market, a workhouse, a theater, houses, houses, houses; a cricket ground, a gas works, a brewery, a stable, a builder's yard, a railway station, a school; grim blocks of artisans' dwellings, more houses, an asylum for the blind, a printing works ...

She'd had no idea of the vastness of London, despite having lived in the city for so long. After all, she usually passed through it on a train while reading a newspaper or making notes; she knew London as an idea, not as a reality. (114)

Though the climax of the book is plagued by a deus ex machina plot development, by that point I was so invested in Sally and Goldberg and the story that I didn't really mind. I think this is by far the best of the Sally Lockhart mysteries—the smartest, the best-written, the most full of London.
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Dec 05, 2010 Maninee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure

adeventuress. financial consultant. share holder. mother.

yes, you heard right. among all the things one would expect brave sally lockhart to be, mom isn't quite on the list is it? and yet that's exactly what she is in the series' fourth instalment, the tiger in the well.

the story starts in the streets of victorian london where young financial consultant sally lockhart is living life to it's fullest. for those of you who thought that she would still be pining away for her (late)lover frederick g...more adeventuress. financial consultant. share holder. mother.

yes, you heard right. among all the things one would expect brave sally lockhart to be, mom isn't quite on the list is it? and yet that's exactly what she is in the series' fourth instalment, the tiger in the well.

the story starts in the streets of victorian london where young financial consultant sally lockhart is living life to it's fullest. for those of you who thought that she would still be pining away for her (late)lover frederick garland are in for a pleasant surprise. sally's business is doing well, her friends(jim taylor and webster garland) are off in a photoshoot in south america, and sally is in london with the sweet little harriet, her daughter. all is going quite well till all of a sudden she finds herself being sued for divorse to a man she's neve been married to! this man comes with legal documents claiming to be married to sally and suing her for (a)being a terrible wife (b) getting drunk often and (wait till you hear this one) running away from her 'husband' and taking the child with her. now sally finds that no matter where she goes or to whom she looks there are evidences of this 'marriage'. the marriage register says it's true and so does the man's neighbours. and yet sally knows that this is all a terrible fraud. and the man who claims to be her husband is someone she's never set eyes before in her life.

meanwhile the streets of ondon are being filled with jewish immigrants from russia. these poor people come to london to find themselves with no money and no english. they are tricked into paying higher rent than they can affrod, are sent to workhouses, madde to do labour, beat and burnt to death and a whole world of cruel things. and the man behind all this is involved in sally's case as well.

but that is if you can call him a man. for he is the stange and mysterious tzaddik.

phillip pullman does wonders with words and i really don't know where to start.

first of all...sally. the adventuress. the fighter the tigress. when i try to describe her i am at a loss for words. her business is taken from her. she's turned out from her home, hunted down the streets, and chased for kidnapping her own child but the way she just slips a gun into her pocket and rushes off, her child in one arm is absolutely amazing. with half of london after her she manages to dodge, weave, run in and out of the streets and back alleys of london. and never does she let her guard down.

secondly...the plot. the way pullman weaves a spell around you is amazing. he juggles all the stories so well, you never know where he's taking you to. one moment you're at the dock, watching hundreds of immigrants being coming down a ship to their doom and the next you're racing down an alley with sally with two constables right behind your back and the next you're at a meeting of the socialists discussing the fate of the world and other such things. and you don't get tired of it for a moment.

thirdly...the big picture. the scene of hundreds of jews walking down a narrow gangplank into a cold, foggy dock; sick and tired and hungry, with little money and less english. halpless in this new country where tey have no idea what to do or where to go to. some all alone without family. others carying their starving children on their weary arms headed either for starvetion or disease or the labour house. the way pullman describes it...you see it all infront of you. and it's heart rening. the jobless men, the broken families the drunk fathers and the hungry children. the dark side of victorian london comes all out in front of you. and in no way does it slow down the pace of the story.

pullman's writng is sprinkled with humour on every other page. be it goldberg's speech or bill and liam's cockney talk, it all brings that nessecary toush of lightheartedness whereever needed. couple that with the sweet, instinctive harriet and you have the perfect recipe for a brilliant, mindblowing book.

phlip pullman mixes grief, sorrow, excitement, fear, thrill, happiness, politics and justice together in a way i've never seen before. there's adventure, there's a bit of history, a bit of politics and revolution and poverty and evil and all the other element (as jim would rightly put it) to briliant penny dreadful.(less)

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Aug 11, 2012 Kalilah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who like History & Mysteries

I'd have given it an extra star if it weren't for the bits that always cheese me off in a book; romance/love.

Even though I pretty much knew how things would play out - and who the villain was before I probably should have (even whilst not having read any of the other Sally Lockhart mysteries), I still think this book is really good.
I love the style of writing, made me feel like I was watching a movie. I love the diversity of characters. I love that, although fictional, many aspects of this book...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Janet rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, historical-fiction

Plucky Sally Lockhart turns into a disappointingly frantic and ineffective gothic heroine in this third installment of the Sally Lockhart Mysteries. When a stranger claiming to be her husband sues for divorce and custody of her daughter, Sally quails at the well-laid plot and makes few, weak attempts to learn who is behind this, and why. Her terror at the idea of losing her daughter renders her quite stupid. She fails to think about how this attempt could relate to her past enemies (an obvious t...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Betsy Ash rated it 3 of 5 stars

Just as in The Amber Spyglass, His Dark Materials #3, Pullman inserts a point of view in the story that's a little too intensely biased, political perhaps. Where in The Amber Spyglass he rails against a controlling political entity that seems to have a lot in common with organized religion, particularly the Catholic Church, here it's dawning on the main character that capitalism is the enemy, and a radical, socialism/communism is the only righteous course. There is lots of positive, well-describ...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Maryanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks

I'm actually not much of a mystery reader - but I loved this series. As with all of Pullman's books these stories are so much more than what they appear to be on the surface (Industrial Revolution mysteries with a plucky heroine). Each book tackles a different issue of the time, and Sally Lockhart might be my new favorite female character for younger readers.

Also, I listened to these books because I had enjoyed the audio version of the Golden Compass series so much and have to say that while the...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Johnsergeant rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiblecom, audiobook, mystery, thriller, ya

Narrated by Anton Lesser

13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sally Lockhart, trying to put her troubled past behind her after her fiance's death, has settled into a comfortable life with her daughter, Harriet, her career, and her London friends. But her world comes crashing down around her when a complete stranger claims to be both her husband and Harriet's father, casting doubt on her spotless reputation.
Seeking the answers to this terrible dilemma, Sally realizes with growing horror that there...more

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May 10, 2013 Jo Bennie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It is 1881 in Victorian London and Sally Lockhart is faced with solving a mystery that could cost her the one thing most dear to her: her own child. On her doorstep is a man with a piece of paper telling her that a man she has never met is petitioning her for divorce for her cruelty and immoral behaviour. With her business partners Jim Taylor and Webster Garland away on a photography expedition she seems vulnerable and the net closes fast around her, a forged marriage certificate, accusations of...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The third and, so far (I've one more to go), best of the Sally Lockhart books.
The story incorporates the rise of socialist organisations, Russian Jews fleeing the pogroms of 1881, and issues of class identity, yet it's not in the least dry or academic. All the sociological and historical elements are vividly brought to life and seamlessly integrated into the narrative. Plus it's a more emotionally involving adventure this time as Sally goes on the run with her toddler daughter in the breathless...more

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Sep 10, 2007 Melody rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read it hoping for some redemption after the debacle which was Book the Second. I think I felt so betrayed by Pullman that I couldn't fairly assess this book on its own merits. I'm still mad at him.

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May 13, 2012 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: treasures

This, the third book in the 'Sally Lockhart series', is unbelievably gripping and a ripping good yarn to boot. I've enjoyed this book the most so far...absolutely mesmerizing! And, I cannot understand why the series has been placed in the YA category; it is far too cerebral and delicious a read for most of the YAs that I know.
I gulped up the later 'His Dark Materials' series, but this may even rank above it. In addition, where 'The Golden Compass' et.al. is fantasy fiction, the Sally Lockhart se...more

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Aug 03, 2009 Jenn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, audio

WOW. Well, I don't think there could be much more plot stuffed into this book, and as things revved up, listening in only 15-25-minute bursts was more and more an exercise in frustration.

I downloaded this after having watched the BBC movies of the first two books--the second engrossed me enough that I wanted to know what happened to Sally next. I was amazed at how much more detail was packed in here--I can't imagine turning it into a two-hour movie. Pullman obviously loves the time period, consi...more

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About Philip Pullman

from his official website:

"I was born in Norwich in 1946, and educated in England, Zimbabwe, and Australia, before my family settled in North Wales. I received my secondary education at the excellent Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, and then went to Exeter College, Oxford, to read English, though I never learned to read it very well.

"I found my way into the teaching profession at the age of 25, and taught...more

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Books by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1)

The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2)

The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3)

His Dark Materials (His Dark Materials #1-3)

The Ruby in the Smoke (Sally Lockhart, #1)

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