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The Tiger in the Well (Sally Lockhart Trilogy, Book 3) Mass Market Paperback – February 18, 1992

by Philip Pullman (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 653 ratings
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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 becoming a modern-day Dickens for young adults. The setting is the same, the strong eye for characters is there, as are the brooding atmosphere, the social conscience, and the ability to spin plot within plot. Sally Lockhart is now a young woman, left alone with a toddler. Nothing prepares her for the shock of receiving a summons from a man she has never even heard of, suing for divorce and the custody of her beloved Harriet. Sally struggles against the net closing around her, seeking to find out who is persecuting her and why. The writing style is lively and direct, and there's lots of action. This is a suspense novel with a conscience, and a most enjoyable one."--School Library Journal.  
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Previous page
  1. Reading age
    12 - 18 years
  2. Book 3 of 4
    Sally Lockhart Mysteries
  3. Print length
    416 pages
  4. Language
    English
  5. Grade level
    7 - 12
  6. Lexile measure
    820L
  7. Dimensions
    4.09 x 1.13 x 6.86 inches
  8. Publisher
    Laurel Leaf
  9. Publication date
    February 18, 1992
  10. ISBN-10
    0679826718
  11. ISBN-13
    978-0679826712
  12. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A suspenseful, textured mystery. Especially fine is his use of details--19th-century London comes alive here. Remarkable, too, is the way Pullman interweaves subplots...those who have enjoyed Sally's adventures before, as well as those new to the series, will find this a fascinating read, pulsing with life."--Booklist (starred review)

From the Inside Flap

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 becoming a modern-day Dickens for young adults. The setting is the same, the strong eye for characters is there, as are the brooding atmosphere, the social conscience, and the ability to spin plot within plot. Sally Lockhart is now a young woman, left alone with a toddler. Nothing prepares her for the shock of receiving a summons from a man she has never even heard of, suing for divorce and the custody of her beloved Harriet. Sally struggles against the net closing around her, seeking to find out who is persecuting her and why. The writing style is lively and direct, and there's lots of action. This is a suspense novel with a conscience, and a most enjoyable one."--School Library Journal.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Laurel Leaf (February 18, 1992)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679826718
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679826712
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 - 18 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 820L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 12
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.09 x 1.13 x 6.86 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 653 ratings

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  1. Philip Pullman

    Philip Pullman

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    PHILIP PULLMAN is one of the most acclaimed writers working today. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly. He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass; a Booker Prize long-list nomination (The Amber Spyglass); Parents' Choice Gold Awards (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work. In 2004, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

    It has recently been announced that The Book of Dust, the much anticipated new book from Mr. Pullman, also set in the world of His Dark Materials, will be published as a major work in three parts, with the first part to arrive in October 2017.

    Philip Pullman is the author of many other much-lauded novels. Other volumes related to His Dark Materials: Lyra’s Oxford, Once Upon a Time in the North, and The Collectors. For younger readers: I Was a Rat!; Count Karlstein; Two Crafty Criminals; Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Scarecrow and His Servant. For older readers: the Sally Lockhart quartet: The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, and The Tin Princess; The White Mercedes; and The Broken Bridge.

    Philip Pullman lives in Oxford, England. To learn more, please visit philip-pullman.com and hisdarkmaterials.com. Or follow him on Twitter at @PhilipPullman.

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  2. J. Thomas

    J. Thomas

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    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
653 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A. E. Berigtold
5.0 out of 5 stars No fainting Victorian damsels here!``````
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2008
Verified Purchase
Well, our heroine does faint at the very end of the book, but at that point it's fully justified. This romp through the sinister side of Victorian England is a thoroughly enjoyable read. I wouldn't insult this book by categorizing it as a "mystery," which makes me think with a shudder of rehased plots and two-dimensional characters and dull prose. Nor would I call this book a work for juveniles by any stretch of the imagination, any more than Orwell's 1984 is a juvenile book. While this novel may well be appropriate for and appreciated by some mature high school students, I would not lightly share it with any pre-teens. There are veiled references to child sexual abuse, and some references to prostitution. Set in gritty times, the novel reflects its era. Any reference to sex or adult themes in the book is tasteful and plot-driven, but an adult considering buying this book for a child based on its "juvenile" status should be aware, and be wary. It is certainly not appropriate for your average 9-12 year old, as the Amazon listing suggests.

Happily for those of us over age 12, it is written to enchant readers of every age. Whether you love it for its clever plot, its "in the trenches" view of the people and places of Victorian London, its subtle criticism of social mores of the time, its gentle flagwaving for socialism, its weaving of Judaic lore into the tale, or its simply fearless and fear-inspiring heroine, you WILL love it!

Now, when can I expect to see the movie version of this gem?...
5 people found this helpful
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Terry
5.0 out of 5 stars Good clean fun
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2018
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I'd read these novels in print when they came out, and they have just made excellent holiday reading. They're deliberately stylized to conform to Victorian "pot-boilers" and the drama is very much PG rated by today's standards. The characters are brilliantly written and engaging and the onboard dictionary on the kindle makes it possible to easily identify the meaning of the archaic terms sometimes employed. You can, once in a while, see hints of the writer's subsequent interests slipping through - the anti-clericalism and the desire to create really heroic female characters. Really good fun.
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Andrew
4.0 out of 5 stars Almost, but not quite...
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2008
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"The Tiger in the Well" begins almost three years after the events of "The Shadow in the North". (Note: if you haven't read "Shadow", skip this review; it gives away important plot details.) Sally, still unmarried and living in London with her 2 year old daughter (by the deceased Frederick), Harriet, is occupied with a successful financial advisory business. Her friends Jim Taylor and Webster Garland are out of the country, exploring South America. This intricately plotted novel is set in motion when a process server arrives at Sally's home to deliver a notice of divorce. Initially dismissive (for she has neither seen nor heard of the man purporting to be her husband), Sally discovers that she is the target of an insidious plot to rob her of everything she holds dear, including her daughter. Driven out of her home, a fugitive from the police, Sally learns that her enemy is as dangerous as any she has faced. Pushed to the brink of total surrender, Sally receives help from an unexpected quarter, and she begins to fight back.

"The Tiger in the Well" is an engrossing journey through Victorian London. Much of the story is devoted to frank and disturbing descriptions of the depraved condition of London's poor, and to Sally's discovery of the injustices inherent in the system from which she had gained such a comfortable living. Her fugitive existence brings Sally face to face with these harsh and unsettling realities. In this sense, Pullman writes in the tradition of Charles Dickens, who famously used his serialized novels to protest the injustices of his time and suggest many progressive reforms. Yet, as one might expect from a modern writer, Pullman is more explicit (and much angrier) in his criticism, and he rails at length against the system as a whole. Social and political criticism are not a new feature to the series. "The Ruby in the Smoke" revolved around the British Empire's active participation in the opium trade, an indisputably true and shameful episode in its history. "The Shadow in the North" was somewhat less historical (with its bullet-spewing locomotive), yet Axel Bellman was a sort of personification of every scientist who ever worked on a weapon, and the book (written when the Cold War was still on) is clearly critical of the role of technology in improving the welfare of society. Thus, the socialist criticism that underscores "The Tiger in the Well" is neither good nor bad... it frames the story and provides some historical perspective. At least we know where Pullman stands, politically. I am no socialist, but the fact that he is makes me no less appreciative of his writing... for the most part.

The problem is, Pullman lets his political agenda get the best of his sense of the story and the unfolding drama, and his sermonizing ultimately intrudes upon the novel's true climax, when Sally defiantly confronts her tormentor, the man who has attempted to steal her daughter and brought her to near-total despair. As I read the novel, I was totally caught up by Pullman's narrative. Yet in this scene, when I should have been in the author's power, Pullman strikes a brutally discordant note. Sally, courageous as ever, does not inveigh against her enemy's total immorality. Instead, she starts jabbering on about how he's not really evil, how the system is evil, and through her agony she has discovered that she has herself been a part of that evil. Pullman is using Sally's speech to state explicitly, for the benefit of the reader, what has already been made completely apparent in the narrative itself. It's akin to those "gee Dad I sure learned that X is bad for Y" moments at the end of episodes of old sitcoms--totally unnecessary and condescending. An excerpt from Sally's speech gives the sense of the problem: "...Just as I made that family starve and put those men out of work and drove that man mad with misery and despair so that he tortured his child with a red-hot poker. I did it, without knowing it. So I'm guilty, me and all the other shareholders and speculators and capitalists. You know where evil is? It's not just in you. It's in... pretending not to know things when once you've seen them. Seeing something bad and shutting your eyes, turning away."

The speech is totally implausible and somewhat ridiculous. A passage with the same tenor would have been mildly annoying at any point in the narrative, but its timing proves to be particularly poor and quite damaging to the book. What human being, in such a moment, would take the opportunity to inform her enemy (as loathsome a man as ever drew breath) that she has, in effect, discovered that Marx is right. I was half expecting her to go on about how the workers need to seize the means of production. Even if one concedes that these books are meant for adolescents (and I submit that they're fit for adults as well), Pullman is guilty of grossly underestimating the intelligence of his audience. He would have benefitted from a more courageous editor, someone to point out that Sally's speechifying was bringing the plot to a screetching halt. It's truly unfortunate, because this is almost a great book. As a mystery, it is better (and darker) in most respects than the previous two in the series. For moments of pure pathos, it is rivaled only by Frederick's death in "Shadow". As usual, Pullman's characters are wonderfully written, particularly the supporting cast. So it is almost great. But, as my father is fond of saying, "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." What we are left with is a great story and a poorly executed finale.
10 people found this helpful
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Bluejack
5.0 out of 5 stars Agonizingly Exciting
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2000
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The mystery here is not so much why everything is conspiring to destroy Sally Lockhart -- if you have read the first two books you can readily unravel the who and why. The question is, how can she combat the powers that have been assembled against her? As other reviewers have mentioned: it is tough going as this book opens. One calamity after another falls upon Sally, and just when you think there is no hope left for her -- that surely she is done for this time -- she finds a still more terrifyingly precarious position just out of reach of her tormentor. But as each recourse is cut off, as each simple minded, foolish, or outmaneuvered person who should be helping her is instead turned against her, I groaned and slammed the book down. Only to pick it right up again, of course.
Perhaps most interesting, is that in this culmination of the Sally Lockhart books, there are a number of accumulated thematic links into the Golden Compass books: you can see that Pullman's rich imagination is not unlimited, and that some of his best ideas are found throughout his work.
3 people found this helpful
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Olivier Dunrea
5.0 out of 5 stars Love All The Sally Lockhart Mysteries!
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2019
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I have bought all four of the Sally Lockhart mysteries. Pullman is one of my favorite authors and these books/stories do not disappoint. Well written, action packed, great characters! Well worth the money. Nicely packaged. Quickly shipped.
2 people found this helpful
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Miranda Penn Turin
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic as always.
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2019
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Mr Pullman never disappoints. Sally Lockhart’s adventures continue - these are so much fun, I just wish he’d written more.
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars The book was in poor condition and dirty
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2014
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Book ok but I wouldn't work with this bookseller again. The book was in poor condition and
dirty.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Me
1.0 out of 5 stars Old book
Reviewed in India on July 7, 2020
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Was given old book. Dont buy
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Purple crocodile
5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than the first two in the series
Reviewed in Germany on January 24, 2013
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This third Sally Lockhart Mystery I thought even more breathtaking and exiting than the previous one. Complex, dark and realisitic. Triple worth the price.
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湘南のおねえさん
5.0 out of 5 stars 原書に挑戦しようかなと思っている方へ
Reviewed in Japan on May 7, 2004
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黄金の羅針盤で有名なプルマンの別の三部作の最終巻です。
最終巻では、彼女はシングルマザーになっています。
ある日、１通の書類を受け取ったサリーは驚きます。彼女は見も知らない男と数年前に結婚したことになっていてその男から離婚請求が出されているのです。そして、その男は娘の親権を要求しているのです。
何者かが周到に準備した彼女への罠は本当に恐ろしい。そして、時代、、、女性の人権が認められていないビクトリア時代。法律も彼女の味方ではないのです。娘を守るためひとり見えぬ敵と戦うことになります。
英語は三部作の中では一番難しいと思いました。内容も濃いので当然かもしれません。離婚請求の法律用語、この時代の文化を表現している単語が難しいです。でもストーリーの持つ力が素晴らしいのでぐんぐん読み進められました。
こどもの頃長靴下のピッピが好きだった方はきっと気に入ると思います。
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Holly G.
5.0 out of 5 stars Une histoire exceptionnelle
Reviewed in France on September 2, 2003
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Le meilleur volume de la trilogie de Pullman consacrée à son héroïne, Sally Lockhart, déjà présente dans "The ruby in the smoke" et "Shadow in the north". L'auteur a une imagination débordante et la fin est plutôt surprenante... Que feriez-vous, en effet, si un jour vous appreniez qu'un homme, un parfait inconnu, vous demande le divorce - alors que vous n'avez jamais été mariée - et réclame la garde de votre enfant (dont le père est mort) ? C'est ce qui va arriver à Sally, mais nous n'en dirons pas plus... Excellente description du Londres de l'époque victorienne en outre.
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HLT
5.0 out of 5 stars Ripping, gripping stuff
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2001
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This is a fantastic follow-up to the previous two Sally Lockhart books, and the best of the three (I'm excluding the Tin Princess because Sally is hardly in it). Philip Pullman again shows us that he can write a childrens' book that is also perfect for adults... and in a truly adult way, as opposed to the childhood nostalgia that Harry Potter can evoke.
During the first part of the adventure, Sally falls very far indeed, losing almost everything she values, as her enemies twist the legal and social system of Victorian England against her. You end up really feeling outrage and anger on Sally's behalf, especially if you know her from the previous books.
As you read, you know there'll be a fight-back, but (if you've read his other books) you'll also know that this author doesn't always deliver a happy ending, or even characters who live to the last page. So, you're left on the edge of your seat, wondering what's going to happen...
The only criticism I'd level is that the mysterious identity of the villain is all too obvious (especially if you've read the other books), and Sally's inability to spot it is therefore frustrating. But even that doesn't take away from the excitement and tension that keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens next...
11 people found this helpful
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