I was a little disappointed this book didn't turn out better since there was a bit of media attention when it first came out. Although I found parts of the book really good, others were too tedious for my liking.

Natalia's terminally ill grandfather mysteriously leaves home in order to die in a small town away from his family. Looking for answers, she remembers the stories he told her as a child. One is about a deathless man he encountered as a young doctor. This man was apparently Death's nephew who was cursed to help the dead cross over. After visiting the village her grandfather grew up in, Natalia discovers the story of the Tiger's Wife, a deaf mute girl abused by her husband, the village butcher. During the war, a tiger breaks free of the zoo and settles in the mountains near the village. Lured by the smell of the butcher's meat, the girl becomes the tiger's ally. The isolated villagers are weary of the tiger and think he is a devil and shun the girl, giving her the nickname. Natalia's grandfather is the only person in the village who befriends the tiger's wife and tries to protect the tiger.