Tiger Slayer 

The extraordinary life of Nur Jahan, Empress of India

Ruby Lal

Ilustrations 

Chasing Sovereignty in the Mughal Court. Ruby Lal (2025) recovers the life of a woman who ruled an empire with her own seal and sword. 

Publication date: 2025 ISBN: 9780143457770 Page count: 155 Publisher: Penguin Books,  an imprint of Penguin Random House Review posted online: February 2026 QBR Reviews Issue: Q1 2026 Categories: Biography and History

The opening chapter, “Miracle Girl Born on the Road,” immediately captures the imagination of the reader. The title suggests a mystery, and a sense of adventure prevails throughout Ruby Lal’s enchanting biography. As we move through the text, each chapter feels like a new path unfolding, revealing the incredible depth of Nur Jahan’s character and her unprecedented journey to power.

Ruby Lal, an award-winning historian and professor at Emory University, originally brought this story to life in her scholarly work, Empress (2018). At the request of her nieces and well-wishers, she has adapted this academic research into Tiger Slayer (2025), a narrative specifically crafted for young adults. Lal’s work focuses on the overlooked lives of women in the Mughal world, moving beyond the “monumental” history of buildings and kings to find the human stories underneath. Reconstructed from primary sources like the Akbarnama and Jahangirnama, the text uses a narrative style while including clever sidebars that explain how historians “fill the gaps” when records are missing.

The language is clear, exciting, and respectful of middle-grade and young adult readers. Lal treats her audience like young historians, sharing real details of power and politics. She does not shy away from the more difficult aspects of Nur Jahan’s life, such as her early widowhood and the scrutiny she faced as a newcomer to the court. For many readers who may only know Nur Jahan as a “beautiful queen” or a romantic partner to Emperor Jahangir this book will be a revelation.

The narrative is structured into concise, thematic milestones rather than a standard, dense biography. It begins with Nur Jahan’s birth in a caravan as her family fled Persia, a dramatic hook for any reader and follows her transition from a queen to a co-sovereign. This status meant she functioned as a legal and political equal to the Emperor. Lal highlights the “Firsts” that signaled this power: Nur Jahan sat at the jharokha (balcony) for public audience, minted silver coins in her name, and issued farmans (imperial decrees) that carried the weight of law.

The book is cleverly titled Tiger Slayer, a direct reference to a ‘kingly sport’ that Nur Jahan mastered. In Mughal India, hunting tigers from the height of an elephant was a ritual of imperial bravery reserved almost exclusively for the Emperor. Ruby Lal details how Nur Jahan once killed four tigers with just six shots. This was not merely a feat of skill, but a political statement.

While the book moves swiftly through her early years as a young mother, it provides deep insight into her “strategic alliance.” Her father, Itimad-ud-daula, and her brother, Asaf Khan, are portrayed as key political partners, while Jahangir is framed as an intellectual partner who recognized her genius. The tension of the story is driven by “patriarchal pushback” from rivals like Prince Khurram (the future Shah Jahan) and General Mahabat Khan. Furthermore, Ruby Lal portrays the zenana not as a place of idle gossip, but as a sophisticated epicenter of trade, poetry, and diplomatic counsel where women wielded significant influence. 

A book for young adults is often marked by its presentation. Molly Crabapple’s illustrations are essential narrative partners; using lavish watercolors and fine lines, she captures both the immense scale of the Mughal Empire and the sharp intensity of Nur Jahan herself.

From a library perspective, Tiger Slayer offers significant text enrichment. It functions as a high-quality educational resource, complete with a detailed map of the empire (c. 1605), a character list, and a glossary that helps restore cultural nuances. It is a vital addition to any collection because it expands upon the traditional focus of Mughal history, bringing to light the influential roles women played in leadership centuries ago. 

When we asked a thirteen year old reader in our library his opinion about the book, he remarked that he thought of Nur Jahan’s political moves as struggles for survival and he therefore thought of her as power-hungry. As a young person, growing up in present times, we get insights into how histories are distorted in the absence of wide reading. This alerted us to our own preparation and readiness to have conversations in the library which would compel young readers to interrogate ‘single narratives’ and see historical events with a more open mind. He also commented on the illustration style and shared that he felt the palette was too colorful and stylised and he preferred the factual clarity of the prose. 

Ultimately, these mixed feelings from a young reader do not detract from the book; rather, they emphasize why Tiger Slayer is such a necessary inclusion in our collection. In the hands of a thoughtful educator and a responsive reader it will challenge us to think about which stories we tell.

We highly recommend this for educators and young readers alike; it is a feminist reclaim of history that proves courage has no gender.

Recommended Reading from the Collection: To further explore themes of leadership and historical reclamation, we recommend placing these titles alongside Tiger Slayer:

1. Lady Tarzan! Jamuna Takes A Stand by Lavanya Karthik, published by Ektara in 2023.
2. Savitribai Phule and I by Sangeeta Mulay, published by Panther’s Paw Publication in 2020.
3. I Phoolan Devi by Phoolan Devi, published by Little, Brown and company in 1997.
4. The Queen The Courtesan The Doctor The Writer by Sabah Khan, published by Parcham in 2022.
5. Warrior Women by Tara Anand, published by Tulika in 2019.
6. The librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter, published by Harcourt children’s book in 2005.
7. The World Is Not A Rectangle by Jeanette Winter, published by Beach lane books in 2017.
8. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, published by Little, Brown and company in 2013.
9. Malala by Jeanette Winter, published by Beach lane books in 2014.
10. Like a girl by Aparna Jain, published by Context in 2018.