moon tiger

　　The elderly Claudia Hampton, a best-sellign author of popular history, lies alone in a London hospital bed. Memories of her life still glow in her fading consciousnes, but she imagines writing a history of the world. Instead, Moon Tiger is her own history, the life of a strong, independent woman, with its often contentious relations with family and friends. At its center -- forever frozen in time, the still point of her turning world -- is the cruelly truncated affair with Tom, a British tank commander who Claudia knew as a reporter in Egypt during World War II.