The Tiger's Wife

Natalia narrates this chapter from the point of view of a tiger who walks away from the city zoo destroyed by German bombs during World War II. The severely traumatized tiger wanders north, out of the city into the countryside.

Natalia tells the reader that long after her grandfather’s funeral, she visited the village her grandfather grew up in, Galina. Galina sits in a mountain valley and is isolated, unwelcoming, and tiny. Marko Parović, who Natalia tells the reader will figure in the story later, sits on his front porch as Natalia arrives. He purposely gets up and goes inside his house, slamming his door she drives past his house. Natalia explains her arrival in this small town: “[E]veryone will see you, but no one will look at you” (100).

Natalia’s grandfather was raised by his grandmother, Mother Vera. His mother died in childbirth, and his father died soon after. Mother Vera, the town midwife, encouraged Natalia’s grandfather to enter the family business, sheep herding. The town apothecary visited the house many times over the years, and Natalia’s grandfather came to admire and revere him for his abilities to heal and create order from the chaos created by living.