Thursday night I was lucky enough to find myself at the CBCA International Dinner at the Hughenden Hotel in Woolhara. The evening's guest swere
Mal Peet and
MT Anderson, who despite being very tired after days on end of visiting and talking, were both entertaining and affable. Yes, affable - an old fashioned word but just the one I want. They sat in the middle of the group of diners and chatted with everyone. I'll admit I am usually overwhelmed by authors of such enormous critical and commercial acclaim but with these two guys - impossible! And I'll never look at Australian school uniforms the same way again!
I also had a memorable conversation with
Kate Forsyth whose new release,
The Puzzle Ring, is my current read. And it's the sort of book you can get wonderfully lost inside. Fantasy has always been my favourite genre as a reader and I'll be posting a review soon. Kate is inspiring to listen to. I felt quite swept away. If ever a writer needs motivation, inspiration and encouragement I recommend 15 mins in a room with Kate.
Another wonderful snippet I overheard - a librarian who has a special 'books with awful covers' section in her high school library. She brownpaper covers selected books - I don't think they actually had to have a bad cover to qualify - and the kids borrow them to see if they are as bad as the notorious cover! What a unique way to create interest! The covers always return a little tattered (where the reader 'peeked') and often have to be re-brownpapered.
So now I am the proud owner of signed copies of
Tamar and
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. Plus my new Tamar has a different cover. To celebrate the evening I'm posting a review of
Tamar I did when I first read it three years ago. I loved it then and have loved it every time I have re-read it since. But a warning first - now that I am a more experienced reviewer - I realise I have given a little of the plot away in my review. So if you haven't read Tamar, stop now, go away and read it - and come back here tomorrow. You won't be able to put it down so one night is all you'll need *grin*
Tamar. by Mal Peet - Walker Books. Paperback rrp $16.95
This book won the 2005 Carnegie Medal (awarded in 2006). So as I sat down to read Tamar I had very high expectations. And the good thing about high expectations, is the reward when they are fulfilled. Tamar is a brilliant novel – the story of two lives, two histories and the tragic effect of war.
When Tamar’s grandfather dies she inherits a small cardboard box. A former wireless operator in the war, William Hyde’s life was full of codes, crosswords and cryptic messages. And that’s what the box contains
- the clues to the puzzles in Tamar’s own life.With her cousin Johannes she sets out to solve them.
Towards the end of the Second World War, two young Dutchmen, trained in London, are sent to Holland to aid the resistance. Their code names are Tamar and Dart. Tamar’s role is to co-ordinate the local forces but he is also returning to Marijke, the woman he fell in love with on a previous mission. Dart (William Hyde) is his wireless operator.
Tamar is killed but Dart survives and returns to England with Marijke. They raise a son who, at his father’s request, names his daughter Tamar. Two lives and two histories begin to converge. Later the son inexplicably abandons his family and Tamar spends ever increasing time with her grandparents.
As the story unfolds Tamar discovers her grandfather is not who she thinks he is. His reality distorted by the strain of war and the pressures of a covert operation, Dart murdered his colleague Tamar and married the unsuspecting and already pregnant Marijke.
William Hyde despises what Dart did, but he loves his family deeply. When Tamar’s father discovers the deception, he is filled with hate. He wants to kill William but instead walks away.
Now Tamar knows everything. Two lives and two histories have collided with a force strong enough to destroy them all. But with Johannes’ help, Tamar finds it in her heart to forgive what her father never can. She understands what the box means. William is completing the apology he began when he chose Tamar’s name.
I read an interview with Mal Peet where he talked about ‘connectedness, the way that we are all individually shaped by past events, by our family experiences, whether they are secret or not, by our grandparents’ lives’ [1]. This is the crux of Tamar.
Tamar is not an easy read. The plot is complex with many twists and turns, winding across Europe and through time. But this is an engrossing, dramatic and thought provoking narrative. Well worth the concentration it requires. While Tamar is marketed as young adult fiction, the line is very finely drawn. The book will equally appeal to adults.
[1] The full transcript of the UK Chartered Library Institute of Professionals interview can be viewed at (
http://www.cilip.org.uk/publications/updatemagazine/archive/archive2006/september/malpeetsep.htm).
