Tamar

Tamar and Dart are the code-names for two Dutch resistance fighters who work as a team behind enemy lines in the final brutal and famine-stricken winter of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Trained in Britain, they are seen as interlopers by many of the fighters whose disparate struggles they have arrived to co-ordinate. Tamar, the organiser, is on familiar territory, and his work is grounded in a covert relationship with one of the heroic young women of the resistance. Dart, the radio operator, works alone and in terrifying danger, sustained only by amphetamines (then a standard prop for such gruelling intelligence work) and by the hope that he will be able to initiate a romance with the same young woman whom his colleague secretly loves.

Fifty years later, one of these men dies tragically, and the story unfolds from the perspective of his 15-year-old granddaughter, who inherits a box of encrypted messages. In decoding these, she embarks on an historical and geographical journey with her jovial but thoughtful Dutch cousin Johannes, a search which reveals how truly harrowing the wartime struggle was, and how far-reaching its effects.

This is an exceptionally well-written, meticulously researched and moving book. Peet’s use of dialogue and internal speech makes us care deeply about these trapped and troubled characters. His dense but subtle use of simile adds a sensory richness to a cognitively engaging preoccupation with secrecy and encryption. This is reflected in a complex and skilful disclosure of events through multiple personal and temporal perspectives, a process which holds the reader in emotionally committed suspense until the closing pages.