Tamar

by Mal Peet

From acclaimed British sensation Mal Peet comes a masterful story of adventure, love, secrets, and betrayal in time of war, both past and present.

When her grandfather dies, Tamar inherits a box containing a series of clues and coded messages. Out of the past, another Tamar emerges, a man involved in the terrifying world of resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Holland half a century before. His story is one of passionate love, jealousy, and tragedy set against the daily fear and casual horror of the Second World War — and unraveling it is about to transform Tamar’s life forever.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, War, World War II

424 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2005

About the author

Mal Peet grew up in North Norfolk, and studied English and American Studies at the University of Warwick. Later he moved to southwest England and worked at a variety of jobs before turning full-time to writing and illustrating in the early 1990s. With his wife, Elspeth Graham, he had written and illustrated many educational picture books for young children, and his cartoons have appeared in a number of magazines.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took me a while to get into this book. It is not my usual choice of genre, but I am glad I stuck with it. This story takes place in 2 time periods and centers around 2 characters who share a name. World War II Tamar is a British soldier stationed in The Nazi-occupied Netherlands. Present day Tamar, named for her grandfather, is facing several family crises. The story is well crafted and has a twist at the end (which you may or may not see coming). The wartime section of the story really hit me. It amazes me that the soldiers who fought in the war were able to return to any time of 'normal' life afterwards. Bottom line: masterfully told story, especially appealing to WWII or general history buffs. Holds appeal for both genders.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed in this novel. It is advertised as the story of a young girl (Tamar) discovering secrets in her family having to do with espionage and WWII. The story isn't from the girl's point of view until page 99. Before that and comprising most of the book is a third person narrative concerning two men in the Dutch resistance during 1944. The intrigue involving the resistance is not a new story or handled in unique way. It's a basic love triangle with WWII as the backdrop and quite predictable. If I were a teen reading this book I would feel cheated. Tamar's point of view makes up very little of story and is not much of an adventure.

[Sarah Cosey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started much stronger than it finished. It had great promise of mystery and intriguing to come. However, if you are at all an astute reader, you catch the plot twist rather early on. The mystery box of items that Tamar's grandfather leaves her with led me to believe that there would be a great unfolding of clues or truths throughout the story. In the end, all you get is a lengthy explanation from Tamar's estranged father which is a wordy and unfulfilling rehash of the story the reader receives in the flashbacks. Also, I was perturbed by the preternatural understanding that Tamar's grandfather had taken this bizarre journey too.

The story line in 1945 was interesting and there were some interesting historical nuggets, but neither plot line contained any real build. It was all very flat, and at times, there were so many characters that it became difficult to keep track of who was who.

I think I'm so frustrated because it had such potential, but it was almost like the author didn't have a clear vision when they began writing.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young adult novel (with adult language and themes) which I read as nighttime reading with my 12 year old daughter.

I was really impressed with the novel which is a lot better than a basic description of the plot would imply.

I enjoyed among other aspects: the way in captured the terror, hunger but also boredom of being an SOE wireless operator in occupied Netherlands; the feuding between the Dutch resistance groups (hard for a football fan not to draw some parallels); the burgeoning relationship between the two cousins; Dart’s complete misreading of Marijke’s every act and look; the lyrical descriptions of the countryside around the Tamar River; the various river metaphors (both overt and more subtle); the way in which it dealt with guilt and resentment and, in one case in particular, ignored any attempt at a happy ending; and complex characters like Tamar’s grandfather and the maverick Dutch resistance group leader.

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please note that my review for Mal Peet's 2005 Carnegie Medal winning WWII and also espionage and doomed romance themed young adult novel Tamar is most definitely wrought with a large amount of personal frustration and annoyance (and right from square one so to speak) as well as it being simplistic and almost a trifle outline like in scope (since I basically did not really even want to read Tamar and have thus mostly just been skimming very cursively). For to be personally and brutally honest, I am for one NOT AT ALL (and in fact never have been) a fan of novels featuring as a main topic espionage (and trying to decipher and figure out various presented and left behind clues) and that for two, sorry, but I am also majorly sick and tired of and bored with the fact that even in the 21st century (even in 2005 for Tamar), WWII and Nazism are still such a common and often such a popular fiction topic, and that the only reason I actually even considered Tamar was because it is a Carnegie Medal winner and we are doing a Carnegie Medal project in the Children's Literature Group.

Therefore and my above feelings and attitudes firmly being on the surface, even though with Tamar Mal Peet has certainly penned a gripping and engagingly penned tale with intriguing alternating 1940s and 1990s story threads which would probably very much textually appeal to readers from the age of fourteen or so onwards and who unlike me do enjoy and appreciate WWII based stories (and that Peet's text for Tamar also very clearly demonstrates how even more than fifty years after WWII, the legacy and the pain of Adolf Hitler and in Tamar the occupation of the Netherlands by the Nazis are still present and affecting Europe and Europeans), sorry, but I just did not at all feel like reading Tamar in any amount of detail, and that yes, what I did read, I just have not really enjoyed, that I just did not really want to meticulously peruse Tamar (and in particular for entertainment, for textual pleasure and for enjoyment purposes).

But still, even though for me personally, Tamar has not been at all enjoyable theme and contents wise (and in particular so the espionage angles), I do with regard to Mal Peet's writing style (which is basically the only part of Tamar I actually am able textually appreciate and enjoy without reservations) definitely understand a bit why Tamar was awarded the Carnegie Medal (and that for readers who are fans of WWII fiction and espionage, Tamar would likely be a story that is readable, exciting and unputdownable). And therefore, even though with regard to the general themes of WWII in the Netherlands in Tamar, combined with the spying and the romance threads, I have totally not liked this story emotionally, I will still be giving a three rating for Mal Peet's story (since my thematic aversion towards war and in particular espionage stories is personal, and that on an academic and intellectual level I also rather appreciate how in Tamar, Peet does not simply paint the Dutch resistance fighters and the spies working for the English as shining heroes, that in Tamar, one of the main if not the main villain is in fact a Dutch resistance fighter, whose psychotic attitudes and unhinged personality keep making things worse and getting Dutch prisoners etc. killed).

[Yasmin Halliwell Fraser Bower · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me forever to finish this book for one simple reason: I suspected the big betrayal since the prologue, and I was right. So it was kind of predictable for me. I liked how the betrayal developped because it was well thought and the obsessive passion was believable, BUT the whole time I was reading I was like “Yep, I think I know what this is all about,” so it was a little boring for me. My second critique is that the first half of the book was utterly BORING because the activities of the resistance weren’t really explained. You get the drill, but the puzzle it’s not clear.

I didn’t enjoy this book that much because of that things, but it’s nota ll bad. The characters and their evolution is well constituted, so you get at the ending why the thing that happens, happens. Trying to keep this spoiler free.

I also liked that it was set in two different times: 1944 and 1995, so you can see the aftereffect of the war in people and what happened to everyone. But I think the ending needed 10 pages more because it was a little inconclusive, por example, what happened to Tamar’s Mom? She will never find out? And what about her father, he’s going to stay with those feelings forever? And how is Tamar dealing with all of this? Yes, she’s upset, but it just says that she’s sab and can’t deal. The idea of a character os to deal with stuff and the ending, at least think about it. You are just blocking it from your mind? I don’t know, I believe it tried to be and open ending, but couldn’t actually get there.

I picked up this book because I love WW2 novels, and even thought in the second half of the book were some interesting resistance activities and encounters with the Germans, the whole story didn’t do it for me.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this one down. It is a book that could easily be enjoyed by adults as well as teens. The writing is superior and this is a tale well told. Completely engrossing and thrilling.

Here's a brief summary from the Fantastic Fiction website:

"A thrilling and moving story about love, betrayal and belonging. When Tamar's grandfather, an intensely private man, falls from a balcony to his death, he leaves behind a box with Tamar's name on it. For a long time Tamar refuses even to think about it...until one hot June day she opens it to reveal a series of clues and hidden messages from her grandfather. She and her cousin Johannes follow the clues and discover that her name also belonged to someone else over half a century before; someone involved in the terrifying world of resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Holland during the Second World War. As she pieces together the mystery her grandfather left behind, another Tamar's story is unravelled; a story of passionate love, jealousy and tragedy played out amongst the daily fear and horror of war. Written with such detailed historical and emotional sweep, this novel will stay with you long after you've turned the last page and is bound to attract child and adult readership."

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this at home while I also listened to The Goddess of Small Victories at work. How do I so often manage to do this, overlap my current stories? It's not intentional, not usually. It must be one of my secret superpowers.
At any rate, both books are WWII stories set against contemporary stories. In this case, Tamar is both the code name for a Danish spy-for-England in Denmark during WWII and the granddaughter who was named after him.

This one was fairly different from most of the WWII stories I’ve read. First, it takes place in Denmark. Second, it follows the lives of spies and the resistance workers in a small Danish town in the winter rather than soldiers on the front or war wives on the homefront.
Running simultaneously is the tale of Tamar's granddaughter who is trying to find out why her beloved grandfather is dead. Her grandmother was struck with dementia some time ago and has no information to share. All that's left are some clues in a box left behind for child Tamar.

I felt this to be well-written, engaging, and quietly suspenseful.

[Trevor Oakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In such a short amount of space it’s difficult to touch on all the things that make Tamar a WWII historical novel unlike ones many teens (and adults) have ever encountered before. It’s a human drama set into motion by events taking place during the great war, which are often overlooked for bigger, Hollywood-depicted, epic war films. The hunger winter was real, and the Nazis did attempt to starve the Dutch into submission…or trick Dutch men into signing up to work for the Nazis only to become todeskandidaten, or “death candidates” for execution. And so the story of Tamar, Dart, Marijke, and Tamar circa 1995, begins here.

[jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is a good book. it's good in the way good books are good. a good, solid goodbook. a readable book. a book you want to go back to night after night. a book that makes you anxious to see how it ends. a book with good sentences good words a good story. a book where people love each other. a book where people hate each other. a book where there is danger and there is respite. a suspenseful book. a book that makes you hungry. a books that makes you happy you are not cold (and you are not, because you live in miami and this is like the warmest winter since south florida was shaped by the planet earth). a book you like to hold. a book with a good cover, good typeface and good, substantial pages. this is a good book like good books are good. like good cups of tea are good. like good clean toilets are good. like good walks are good. like a good warm blanket would be good if you weren't in miami in the warmest winter since the beginning of the planet. like a good bath is good, and a good shower. like a good breakfast is good.

not, though, like a good soft dog is good. or a good fresh glass of clean water out of the tap. or a good hike in pristine mountains. or a really good pair of shoes -- shoes you want to walk in a long time because when you wear them you don't feel your feet so it feels like you can go on forever. or like a good healthy body is good, and a good healthy mind. or a good, good friend, a friend you can spend hours with, a friend who makes you laugh, a friend who gets it, a friend who when you see them you break into this big great grin and the day is suddenly so good, so full of sun. or like a good song, a song that sinks into your mind and alters the workings of your synapses, and suddenly you feel pretty fucking happy, or satisfied, but not just satisfied like at the end of a decent day, more satisfied like at the end of lovely tender sex with someone you like a lot, whose hands you like a lot, whose skin you like a lot, whose breath you like like like.

so this is a good book, but good only in the sense in which all the things in the first paragraph are good, not in the sense in which the things in the second paragraph are good. and i realize that good, the way i use it here, is subjective, and that people might find a good warm blanket closer to a good soft dog than to a good walk, but this is how i see things, and to me the things in the first paragraph are good in a different, lesser way than the things in the second paragraph, at the time of my writing of this review, which is january 13, 2013, in the hottest winter in the history of the known world.

[Judith Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with the review by The Bookseller printed on the back cover:

‘Beautifully written and absolutely gripping, this is exceptional storytelling’.

I learnt too about some of the wartime experience of the Netherlands.

[Rhea · Rating 2 out of 5]

TAMAR is a fanfic.

Honestly, it feels as if Mal Peet read Postcards from No Man's Land and liked it so much, he decided to write a fanfic. But then he decided to tweak the storyline a bit to make it a bestseller, and to make the content more politically correct.

Let's observe the similarities:

- The narrative has two alternating stories, one from WWII and one from the 1990's

- The WWII story takes place in Nazi-occupied Holland, where a soldier and a young woman fall in love. Meanwhile, there is another man who loves the young woman, but she doesn't love him back.

- Eventually, the soldier is killed, and the young woman is left pregnant. She marries the other man, and says the child is his. She bears no children that are bioligically his.

- Meanwhile, during the 1990's, a teenager who shares her/his grandfather's name rediscovers the WWII past when their grandfather/grandfather's WWII caretaker commits suicide/plans assisted death

- The teenager goes on a journey to a river/Amsterdam where she/he makes new friends, falls in love, and learns many things about the world. She/he learns the truth of the past and how it links to the present, and how even past events influence today's life.

This degree of imitation is ridiculous - in fact, I barely remember what happened in TAMAR and was still able to come up with this much! And it's not as if Mal Peer created a smilar but still original and rich story; he simply took the original, threw in cliche (but bestselling) elements such as SPIES! GUNS! BETRAYAL!, put a predictable and melodramatic love triangle in the center of the story, and changed the beautiful, present-day self-discovery arc into a mystery with awkward teen romance.

TAMAR even plagarizes POSTCARDS stylistically: both are big stories writen in very descriptive prose. However, where Aiden Chambers is playful and thoughtful, using his writing style to describe many fascinating minutia and ask interesting side-questions, Mal Peet chokes the flow of the narrative with excess details that will make your eyes glaze over.

Honestly, the only thing TAMAR does as well as POSTCARDS is the research. I'm not a historian, but from what I can tell, the research was solid.

Also, oddly enough, both POSTCARDS and TAMAR won the Carnegie medal. I have a theory for how this happened is that the comittee independantly read POSTCARDS, and by the time they were to judge TAMAR, they mostly forgot about POSTCARDS. However, as they were reading TAMAR, they started getting nostalgia - it was as if the story held with in it something half-remembered... perhaps a book they read long ago? So because reading TAMAR made them feel the sweet ache of remembering something lost, they thought TAMAR was a wonderful book, and selected it as the winner.

So, skip this book; it is not worth a second of your time. Instead, for the same book but much better-written, see Postcards from No Man's Land. It's a truly rewarding experience. Or, if you are more action/plot oriented, check out Code Name Verity, which the New York Times called, "a fiendishly plotted mind-game." Happy reading :)

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The operations of the S.O.E in Europe have been the stuff not just of historical studies but of films, novels, and television series. Most of these take place in occupied France for some reason. It is, therefore, wonderful to read a book that takes place in the Netherlands.

Peet has done his research and the characters are brillantly flawed. While some adult readers might be able to figure out the ending, the story is compelling regardless.

[Alex Baugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tamar is one of those stories that is difficult to talk about without giving too much away and spoiling the twist that comes at the end of the novel. And Tamar is well worth the read just to get to that. It begins in 1979, when William Hyde asks his son Jan if he and his wife would consider using the name Tamar for their expected baby, to which they happily respond in the affirmative. It is this daughter, Tamar, who narratives the story that follows.

The story then switches to 1945, introducing Dart and Tamar, undercover names (based on English rivers) for two Dutch born, British trained agents for the SOE (Special Operations Executive) just as they are about to parachute into the Nazi-occupied Netherlands to work with the Dutch Resistance in an attempt to reorganize it during that terrible Hunger Winter when so many people died of starvation. Once inside Holland, Dart, who is the team's radio operator, operates under the name Dr. Ernest Lubbers, living and setting up his radio at the local mental asylum. Tamar, under the name of Christiaan Boogart, is fortunate enough to be placed in the home of Marijke Maatens. Tamar/Christiaan and Marijke have been lovers for a while, but when Dart/Lubbers realizes what is going on between them, he becomes very angry and jealous. He has also fallen in love with Marjike.

The narrative moves to the spring of 1995. Jan Hyde's daughter Tamar Hyde is now 15. Her father has be missing for a few years and her beloved grandmother, Marijke, has recently passed away, after being placed in a nursing home because she was seemingly suffering from dementia. Now, her grandfather has just committed suicide. As a result of that, Tamar finds herself in possession of a box full of his World War II memorabilia. Tamar knew that her Grandad "was fascinated by riddles and codes and conundrums of labyrinths, by the origin of place names, by grammar, by slang, by jokes...by anything that might mean something else. He lived in a world that was slippery, changeable, fluid." (pg 111) And so Tamar begins a journey to figure out that codes messages her Grandad has left regarding his life and suicide.

From here on the story alternates between 1945 and 1995 as events unfold and characters are explained. I don't want to say too much more at this point and risk an unintended spoiler, which can so easily happen with suspense novels you feel enthusiastic about.

Tamar is an exciting, suspenseful, very sophisticated and often gritty YA novel, but it is definitely not going to be everyones cup of tea. A lot of readers said they had a hard time getting into the story, while others complained that it was big (379 pages) and too slow moving, while other readers thought it was a 5 star story. I tend to be on the side of the 5 star folks.

Peet's teenage narrator proves to be quite formidable. One would almost think beyond her 15 years, but given Tamar's life experiences so far, maybe her formidability is completely understandable. Through her voice, Peet details her discoveries in a very straightforward style, clean and clear, yet it is all done in such lyrical prose that sometimes it often made me almost forget the subtext of the title. Without my realizing that he had done it, Peet has taken that subtext espionage, passion and betrayal, wound and woven them together in a story that left me unsuspecting until the very end and then totally surprised. In fact, after I finished it, I thought the whole novel is really a reflection of of William Hyde's love of all things enigma and that, I think, that is what makes Tamar such an unusual story. And yet, all along the way, Tamar gives us innocent (?) hints about where things are going.

The book is recommended for readers age 14+
This book was bought for my personal library

[Darla · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Genre:fiction/historical fiction-WWII) This is a sad book. I was about a third of the way thru it when I realized who Tamar's (the girl) grandfather really was and I almost stopped reading it. I knew where it was going and it wasn't where I wanted to go. The writing is solid, though, and even though I could see what was coming I felt compelled to finish it. The story is told in two different times, 1944-45 and 1995/2005. Most of the 1944-1945 story takes place in German-occupied Holland. It tells the story of 2 British trained Dutch men who work for the resistance movement and the locals who assist them. One of the men, code name Tamar, has been in this location before and has fallen in love with a young woman. He chooses to keep their relationship a secret and the other man, Dart, falls in love with her too. The dynamics between the two friends changes dramatically when Dart realizes the deeper relationship that actually exists between the girl and Tamar. The near constant stress of trying to stay hidden from the Nazi forces and do their respective jobs also takes a toll on their lives. The 1995/2005 story centers on the granddaughter of one of these men and her journey as she tries to decipher the clues about his life that he has left behind for her to find and follow. This book won the Carnegie Medal (British award for outstanding young adult literature) and one of our local libraries has it cataloged as teen fiction, while the other has it in the adult section. I see it more as an adult selection (or mature teen). It has profanity sprinkled throughout both time periods and the main couple are living together without being married. :(

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant. End of.

It’s engaging, a page turner, brilliantly written & a great story. Mal Peet was a great writer & I will be reading his other novels.

I took it from the YA section of the school library I manage. I don’t read YA that much, but I’m so glad I read this one. Winner of The Carnegie Medal & it’s so obvious why. Set during WW2, the story follows two resistance fighters in Holland, whilst also following the coming of age of a young girl who will find out more about her name, Tamar than she would ever have believed. Peet captures the ambience of the war with its fears & hunger, perfectly. I won’t say anymore about the plot, but if you want a book that will have you totally engrossed, this is it.

[Sophie_The_Jedi_Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5

"He's dead, Yoyo. He killed himself."
"So? You think people stop talking to you when they are dead?"

This year, I've been getting through the ebooks I've had on my Libby account since I first discovered the app at the beginning of COVID. So while Tamar has been on my list for a while, I only just got to it. Truth be told, I picked it up because I saw the title and thought "hey, the badass gay girl from Shadow and Bone!" So that's telling of what piques my interest.

Tamar is a story of two spies in WWII working undercover in Nazi-occupied Holland. The story shifts between the past and the present, focusing on those spies and the granddaughter of one of them, fifty years later, seeking to uncover the mysteries of the past.

History buffs would probably find this story more interesting than I did - this just isn't a time frame that appeals to me. The details there are fine, but, at its core, Tamar is the story of a twisted love triangle and its inevitable conclusion in the present day. And as for that side of things... eh.

I genuinely enjoyed the drama caused by said love triangle, and the book ended with a startling twist that I didn't see coming at all. But the romance is just okay, and it was modern-day Tamar whom I wanted to read more about.

Side note: there's a scene in the past where Tamar (the spy, not the granddaughter) finds a chocolate bar in his supplies. He bites off a piece of it, and then his girlfriend comes in. Instead of, you know, just offering her another piece, he kisses her and slides his chocolate into her mouth. Ugh, I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it. And this is supposed to be a romantic scene!

Whatever. There's that, and then there's Tamar (the granddaughter) in the modern day investigating the path her grandfather left for her down the river they were both named for. That part was actually kind of interesting, but she was accompanied by Yoyo, her 19-year-old pseudo-cousin (distant relation), who flirts way too much with 15-year-old Tamar. Even her mom literally tells Yoyo "remember she's fifteen" before she sends them off! I know these details aren't part of the main plot at all, but they bugged me a lot!

The ending was... annoying. Not frustrating, because frustrating would imply that I had high expectations in the first place. I was just racing to get to the end.

First off, it definitely felt like this book ended too soon. The portions set in the past reached the final chapter and I thought "wait, that's it? really?" And then there's the modern-day chapters...

Okay, so Tamar's dad found out that his father lied to him all his life and wasn't really his bio dad but the guy who killed said bio dad. So his very mature response is to abandon his wife and ten-year-old daughter until this guy died?? What the hell dude? And then the book ends without any real resolution with him and Tamar! I don't feel like I'd be able to forgive my dad if he abandoned me for a reason like that!

And then the book just jumps ahead - boom, now it's ten years later and Tamar is pregnant by her pseudo-cousin! And they're going to name the baby after her grandma! What kind of ending is that? I get the pregnancy and naming parallels from the beginning but just... ugh.

This really wasn't terrible; it just never held my interest. And I've tried to get harsher with my ratings, so sorry Tamar - no 3-star rating for you.

2.5/5 stars.

After a while I said "Home, then?"
And it didn't seem so terrible a thing to say after all.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book begins with the naming of a child. A fairly simple event, yet this particular name carries a tremendous amount of meaning. The name is Tamar, it is the name of a river in Holland, it was the code name of a member of the Dutch Resistance during WWII, and it is now the name of a newly born girl. As the book progresses we learn more and more about the name, the person,and the story of Tamar.
Written in alternating sections (not chapters), young Tamar narrates the modern, set in 1995, sections, while the 1945 WWII sections are written in third person. There is no obvious overlap, just the knowledge that young Tamar's name carries a mystery. When her Grandad chose the name Tamar, her Grandmother, Marijke nearly fainted with shock.
The book is laden with suspense and action. We learn right away that Tamar's Grandad, William Hyde, committed suicide. He left her a box of of items including a map, a crossword puzzle, 1,945 pounds and a German passport. None of these items help Tamar, her Grandad never talked about his time in the war, so why has he left her these things? She calls her cousin Yoyo (Johannes) and they plan a road trip for the summer time to follow the marks on the maps.
While Tamar's journey does not follow her Grandad's wartime footsteps, she does get to experience the Tamar River, and her destination is not what one would expect. Alternately, the chapters set in 1945, are intense and deliberately clear. Two men, with the code names Dart and Tamar are stationed in Holland as Dutch Resistors trying to form an alliance of scattered geurilla groups. Dart, a wireless operator, travels via bicycle to send encoded messages to Britain, while Tamar organizes the resistance and tries to convince them all to work together against the German SS. Underlying this dramatic storyline is a love story. Tamar, living in a rural farmhouse, has a loving relationship with Marijke, the woman whose family owns the farm. He keeps this love a secret, and this becomes his fatal flaw. Dart, it turns out, is also in love with Marijke. Dart sees Tamar in an evil light, thinking that he has taken advantage of his situation at the farm, and he repulsed by this belief. When the opportunity arises to alter this situation, he jumps on it, and it is the dramatic climax after much build-up of suspense
While the wartime sections are a picture of the dreadfulness of Nazi ruled Europe, young Tamar's sections are a more peaceful ride through the life of a young girl left with so many unanswered questions and so much life ahead of her. What will her trip teach her about her Grandad? Why did he kill himself?
Although a happily-ever-after ending puts a glow to the finality of this book, the reader is ultimately left with a feeling of shock.
This is a book about a brutal war, a broken family, and a young girl struggling with her lack of family background. A real page turner, I highly recommend this book.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give TAMAR five stars, it was that good a read. I thought about it off and on for days after finishing. (And normally I forget a book once it's read, except when I buy it again and realize after a couple of chapters I've read it before!)

TAMAR grabbed me right away, when an old man asks his son to name his coming baby Tamar. The son conmplies and the stage is set for the story to unfold. When Tamar is fifteen, she sets out on a journey up the Tamar River in England, going to places her grandfather marked for her. She hopes to discover his past.

Part of the book is written from her POV on her journey. The other parts come from the POV's of two Dutchmen, code names Tamar and Dart, who were parachuted into Nazy occupied Holland during WWII to aid the resistance. The switch between present and past is effortless, probably because Tamar always uses first person for her accounts.

Peet gives a moving picture to life in Holland under the occupation. An unwed mother serving as a courier. The fearful heroism of people who risk their lives to keep radio signals between England and Holland alive. The food shortages. The soldiers' threat.

We follow Tamar and Dart's mental processes, watch them deteriorate, panic, rise up in heroism. And there's a love story, between Tamar and the namesake Tamar's grandmother.

The one thing that disappointed me was that the plot came apart toward the ending. Present day events came about that depended on events during the war being known to the current cast, that (unless I missed something and I very well could have) we the readers knew, but left us puzzled as to how the others not involved knew them.

If it hadn't been for that, the plot coming apart toward the end, I would surely had given it five stars.

This book's for anyone who likes history, romance, and good writing.

[BellaGBear]

This is the book for you if you are looking for an unheroic war story. For all their bravery, men and women living through or fighting in a war are seldom the Hollywood-kind of heroes, and many people on the ‘right side of history’ might be frightful assholes. The Second World War is no different.

Peet’s writing is very detailed and precise, which makes for stressful and sometimes shocking scenes but also very happy, beautiful ones. In the midst of the turmoil Tamar and Dart spend languid hours in Marijke’s kitchen and young Tamar, however anxious she is, at times thoroughly enjoys her first roadtrip. ‘Tamar’ is more than a name, it is the word that connects everyone. It carries the memories of a family, able to evoke reactions young Tamar doesn’t understand until she follows the river to its beginning: her journey’s end.

I would recommend this book to anyone, whether you are interested in history or just looking for a good story. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.

This book is reviewed by Jo, and can be read in its entirety at: https://bookwormsshallruletheworld.wo...

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sign of an outstanding book? Tears at the end--good tears. Tragic, historically interesting, emotionally gripping, beautifully written. As usual, I read the end early on; when I found out what happened I had to stop for a few days. But I couldn't just walk away. One nugget of doubt: Stepping away from the book, I had a little difficulty convincing myself that Dart would really have "done it," despite all Peet's carefully built clues. But I bought it wholesale while "in the dream" of the novel, so I guess that's what counts.

[Sally906 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about the Dutch Underground in WWII - I was attracted to it because my late Brother-in-Law was in it as a child. He was shipped to Australia at the end of the war aged 12 as he was an orphan by then. He could speak no English, said English was the hardest language to learn as the rules made no sense. To his dying day he couldn't understand why you had one foot but didn't have two foots!

[Yvette Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book in an op shop purely because I loved the hand lettered and textured cover. It turned out to be a story set in ww2 and I loved it! It was a real page turner and I didn't know where it was headed. I love finding unexpected gems like this!

[Paul Bartusiak · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up a used hardcopy at my local Library's annual used book sale. The cover, with the bronze sky and a couple of paratroopers descending through it, a windmill in the background, intrigued me. The top of the cover proclaims "Winner of the Carnegie Medal." With that imprimatur, and my interest in the subject matter, I took the plunge.

Trouble is, I didn't really know what the Carnegie Medal was, and I didn't look it up until after I finished. According to Wikipedia, "The Carnegie Medal is a British literary award that annually recognizes one outstanding new English-language book for children or young adults."

I don't have a bias against young adult books, for sure; in fact, after watching the very good movie, Annihilation, I was so intrigued by it that I read the novel; I enjoyed it immensely, and only afterwards learned it was a YA novel.

Tamar started really well, pulled me in. I loved the 1st person perspective and the mystery surrounding the resistance movement in Holland during WWII. The time shift, and the intrigue surrounding the granddaughter of the title character was an interesting aspect as well. I don't know what happened, though, because at about the halfway point the novel lost its punch. It's like the publishing house switched editors or something.

The scenes became wordy, yet the ideas were more simple. With all the foreshadowing and references on the cover ("A Novel of ...Passion and Betrayal") and the book jacket (a "His story is a complex one of passionate love, jealousy, and tragedy...") and the portrayal of the mental descent of one of the main characters, it was not hard to figure out where the story was going very early on. And the characters started to deviate from the foundation author Mal Peet laid for them in the first half of the novel, so it became a bit unbelievable.

I didn't mind that Peet cut his teeth on YA novels; I was interested to see how he would evolve in his writing for Tamar. But the puzzling oversimplification in style of the second half, its laborious wordiness, became frustrating. And then only afterward did I learn that Tamar had won an award for a "YA novel." It made at least a little more sense.

I don't mind simple, easy to read sentences. John Steinbeck and Somerset Maugham are two of my favorite authors, and their writing styles are very accessible while still sustaining complex literary drama and ideas.

Perhaps a young adult would not experience the same disappointment I did in the denouement of the story; obviously it won an award. But sometimes I think the subject matter dealt with in a story goes a long way towards the novel being in contention for an award. A story of the resistance movement in Holland during WWII, portrayals of Nazi brutality and murder, I guess the judges would view that as noble subject matter, perhaps allowing it to overshadow weaknesses and cracks in the writing and the story itself.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

But when I stood there and saw that the end of the journey was as vague and unreachable as the beginning had been, I realized I didn't care. No, more than that: I was relieved. I didn't want an ending, didn't want to get to the full stop of our story.

What a beautiful, horrible story this is. Of course war stories are never easy to hear and traumatic to live through, but this book, this picture of gritty humanity, this depiction of passion and hope and fear tops nearly all that I have read. It is painful, it is poetic. Two spies in Nazi-occupied Holland during the winter of 1945, almost brothers, terrified, bored, hopeful - and Marijke, the young woman one had and both wanted. The poor lunatics at the asylum, trapping clouds with their feet and speaking to angels. The Nazis, exhausted with war, high-strung. The families who never had enough to eat, with too much safety to feel alert and not enough safety to relax. It is like a swift-moving train straight to some horrible, improbable end. And laced through, the questions of a war veteran's granddaughter from 1995.

I highly recommend this to fans of war literature. Inspired by elements of a real-life couple's story of the war, it is grisly, it is tense; but it is beautiful.

[M.E. Hembroff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Tamar adored her grandparents. When her father disappears she spends a lot of time with them when her mother is at work. When Marijeke, her grandmother, has to go to a nursing home her grandfather becomes despondent.
When her grandfather gives up and commits suicide he leaves Tamar a box that is sealed securely. For a time, Tamar shove's the box into the back of her closet while she studies for exams. When she opens it she is astonished by the mishmash of things in the box which includes maps with a route along the Tamar River marked out.
Tamar is baffled and gets in touch with her Dutch cousin and they plan a trip which is funded by the bundle of money left in the box.
Along the quest she learns things about her grandfather which leaves her baffled at first.
The author skillfully blends young Tamar's life and her grandfather's war years as a British spy. The story if full of espionage, passion and betrayal.
The story gives you a peak into what the Dutch people went through during World War II. This is a must read for those who like historical fiction. A lot of research would have gone into the writing of this book. This book is for those fourteen and up.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was excellently written. I felt like I was reading a real account, watching it happen, rather than reading a story some person made up and got published. That's the main thing that impressed me with the book: a unique story and really great writing.

It was interesting getting into the strategies and plotting and planning that happened with some Allied groups behind the scenes. It was also refreshing to not have any Americans in the story; as an American myself, I'm not sure I've ever read a war story that didn't involve us somehow.

A little after a certain love interest arose, I started suspecting what the twist would be, and by page 368, I was certain. Sure enough, I was right, and then everything got wrapped up more neatly than I expected at the end.

This is not the sort of book I read and it was a bit slow going, especially trying to keep track of characters, but then I started getting more invested in what happened and enjoyed the ride.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was surprisingly good. It chronicles, side by side, the lives of two fearless spies working in the SOE (resistance espionage organization of World War 2) and the teenage granddaughter of one of these spies, Tamar. Tamar is trying to puzzle through a mysterious box her late grandfather has left her, filled with seemingly useless clues and puzzles. While I found the plot of the former a little too long and complicated, the comparison of the two time periods was wonderful. My favorite part of the story was the conclusion, astounding and powerful, when Tamar realizes why her grandfather has set her this series of puzzling clues. It forced me to completely reshape my perspective on the entire story in my mind. Although the book could have been shortened by 50+ pages, the storytelling and plot were fabulous.

[Charles Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I had no idea this was meant as teen fiction. So I guess teen fiction has changed over the past decades. This was a classic mystery, divided into two parts. Every other chapter took place in Holland during the war, around 1945. This was when the war was close to being over but the Germans were still acting like beasts. The population was being starved to death and reprisal exeuctions took place all the time. The two main characters are two Dutch agents, trained by the British, who have dropped into Holland. This part of the story was excellent. The other chapters take place in Englian in 1995. Years later one of the men kills himself and leaves a "mysterious" box of clues for his grandaughter, named Tamar, to follow. It requires her to follow a map that would take her far away from London. This part was interesting but the dialogue between Tamar, and a distant Dutch cousin who accompanies her on this quest, was ...well... forced. As if the author couldn't capture the voice of a teenage girl. But that's a small complaint. Tamar is one of those books that keeps you turning the page. Which is high praise.

[Ema · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Tamar's grandfather, William Hyde was found dead, there was some evidence that he may have deliberately taken his own life. However, there was no suicide note. He leaves her a box that contains a series of clues and coded messages.

Her father had disappeared five years earlier when she was 10 years old. It seems that her grandfather wanted to tell her about his past when he was recruited by the Special Operations Executive, a branch of the British secret services. And why he named her, Tamar.

TW: mass executions, betrayal

Tamar was inspired, in part, by the author's experiences with a friend's father who had been a British secret agent in the Second World War. A bit predictable yet gripping emotionally.

My personal rating is 4.5 ⭐

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