Serbian-American writer Téa Obreht was named one of The New Yorker's "20 under 40" notable fiction writers even before "The Tiger's Wife" – her debut novel – was published. "The Tiger's Wife" is written around the tales that a grandfather (of unspecified Balkan origin) has told his granddaughter. When he dies, this granddaughter (now an adult and a physician) goes to the hills to investigate. Monitor reviewer Yvonne Zipp writes that Obreht "knows the magic of the words: 'let me tell you a story,' " adding that in "The Tiger's Wife" she succeeds at creating "a climate of wonder and horror right out of a fairy tale."
