Overview
Now available - the Carnegie Medal winner comes to the U.S.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.
From acclaimed British sensation Mal Peet comes a masterful story of adventure, love, secrets, and betrayal in time of war, both past and present.
Editorials
KLIATT -
To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, January 2007: This lengthy novel tells how the horrors of WW II terrorism (aka resistance fighting) affect three generations in one family. It reads like a thriller, with the action of wartime (winter, 1945) interspersed with mysteries of identity in 1995. The YA component is that the 15-year-old granddaughter, Tamar, who adores her grandfather, finds out when he commits suicide that his secrets from 1945 ruined the life of his son, Tamar's father. Uncovering the truth changes everything about her family. The resistance action takes place in Holland during the last winter of the war. Two young Dutchmen, trained and "run" by the British, are holed up in a remote area where they both fall in love with Marijke, the young woman at the farm where they are hiding. The spy code-named Tamar (after a river in Cornwall) is having an affair with Marijke and the other young man, code-named Dart, is obsessively jealous. Peet describes their clandestine lives so well that we understand how sleep and food deprivation, constant fear, and suffering and violence make them emotionally unbalanced, to say the least. The granddaughter Tamar is given a package after the death of her grandfather, which leads her on a quest to discover the truth about what happened in Holland so long ago. This is a demanding, carefully written story, with dreadful details of betrayal and violence. (Winner of the 2006 Carnegie Medal and an ALA Best Book for YAs.) Reviewer: Claire RosserChildren's Literature -
Fifteen-year-old Tamar is on a quest to understand her identity and discover her heritage. An understanding of self is something that has eluded her since her father left five years ago and her grandfather, who raised her, has just committed suicide. The novel weaves the events of 1944 England and Holland during World War II with Tamar's life in modern London (1975-2005). Unfortunately, this format does not make for easy reading, and many readers will abandon the story early. Peet presents gruesome ambushes and attacks in great, gory detail; her various descriptions of insanity are similarly vivid. Though this is recommended for readers ages 14 and up, this book may be only enjoyed (if such a word can be used in relation to this work) by those who have direct connections with World War II, as that seems to be Peet's emphasis. It is difficult to focus on the characters when various monikers are assigned to the each one at various stages; it is even more difficult to handle the blending of another generation into this complex story. Perhaps this would have fared better if the parallel stories were presented separately. They certainly would appeal to diverse audiences and just might be enjoyed by more. Reviewer: Elizabeth YoungSchool Library Journal
Gr 9 Up
Mal Peet's Carnegie Medal-winning novel (Candlewick, 2007) deftly weaves suspense and painful emotion with story strands set in World War II Holland and late 20th century England. When her grandfather commits suicide, 15-year-old Tamar is left an odd collection of objects that lead her to Devon, site of her namesake river. Accompanied by a her cousin, and the two young people uncover the dark family secret that began in the Dutch countryside during the waning days of the Nazi occupation. That thread of the story involves two Dutch Resistance fighters in love with the same woman. Brutal reprisals by German troops increase the friction among Resistance factions and add to conflicts between the two espionage agents, once best friends. The story not only follows a determined teen through her anger, loss, and betrayal, but it also echoes those themes in the ravaged landscape of wartime Holland. Narrators Anton Lesser and Anna Maxwell Martin keep the tension palpable and convey the tale's complex human dilemmas. Peet describes the intensity of love and the struggle to survive physical and mental hardships with compelling imagery. Students can easily draw parallels between this conflict and contemporary issues and identify with the title character's search for self. A gripping, well-crafted audiobook for high school and public library collections.-Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT