Mal Peet (1947–2015)
Author of Tamar
About the Author
Mal Peet was born in 1947. Before becoming a children's author, he worked as a teacher and for educational publishers. His first novel, Keeper, won the Branford Boase award and Nestle Children's Book Award. He also won the Carnegie Medal in 2006 for Tamar and the Guardian children's fiction prize show more in 2009 for Exposure. He co-authored a series of children's books with his wife Elspeth Graham. His first novel for adults, The Murdstone Trilogy, was published in 2014. He died from cancer on March 2, 2015 at the age of 67. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Mal Peet
Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 1-9: Rhyme and Analogy: First Story Rhymes: Dustbin Fred (1998) 3 copies
Maalivahti 1 copy
Clown tea monkeys 1 copy
The Socrates Effect 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Peet, Malcolm Charles
- Birthdate
- 1947-10-05
- Date of death
- 2015-03-02
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Paston School
Warwick University (MA) - Occupations
- author
illustrator - Awards and honors
- Carnegie Medal (2005)
Guardian Prize (2009)
Branford Boase Award (2004)
Wirral Paper Back of the Year (2006) - Relationships
- Graham, Elspeth (wife)
- Short biography
- Mal Peet grew up in North Norfolk, and studied English and American Studies at the University of Warwick.
Later he moved to south west 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 has written and illustrated many educational picture books for young children, and his cartoons have appeared in a number of magazines. He and Elspeth live in Exmouth, Devon.
He is the author of several novels for young adults. His first, Keeper, was published in 2003, and won the Branford Boase Award. His second, Tamar (2005), the story of two men caught up in secret operations during World War II, won the 2005 Carnegie medal. His third novel, The Penalty (2006), returns to the South American location of Keeper, and sets a modern-day story of crime and corruption against an historical narrative of slavery and occult religion. It was shortlisted for the 2007 Booktrust Teenage Prize.
His latest novel is Exposure (2008), a modern re-telling of Othello and winner of the 2009 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- North Walsham, Norfolk, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Exmouth, Devon, England, UK
- Place of death
- London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
Teen fiction (for people who don't read teen fiction). A curious amalgam of war novel and historic romance, this is a slower-paced book (the lovers don't actually meet until p. 137) but thoroughly enjoyable. The narrator's voice is intelligent with occasional malaprops: "as cunning as a lavatory rat" (p. 235) and "brain choked on an anagram" (p. 364). I would suspect these were deliberate choices by the author, but the effect is imbalanced rather than humorous--the book would have been show more better without. show less
A very powerful story, actually two stories, a love story and a war story told parallel, overlapping, intertwining and dissecting all at once. And the writing is just incredible.
"But the window - if that's what it is - is utterly and intensely black. Blacker than any night sky in the darkest part of the universe. Darker than death. The whole middle of the painting is a terrifying void. But the fruits and the vegetables, those humble and edible object, have their backs to that void. They show more bathe in the brevity of light, casting their modest shadows onto the stone. They say, they insist, that they briefly exist.
'Here we are,' they say, 'Death is the default. There's no avoiding it. It's the background into which we will inevitably melt. We will rot and so will you. But in the meantime, eat, see, smell, taste, listen, touch. Look how commonplace and how beautiful we are.'
And they really were. Are." show less
"But the window - if that's what it is - is utterly and intensely black. Blacker than any night sky in the darkest part of the universe. Darker than death. The whole middle of the painting is a terrifying void. But the fruits and the vegetables, those humble and edible object, have their backs to that void. They show more bathe in the brevity of light, casting their modest shadows onto the stone. They say, they insist, that they briefly exist.
'Here we are,' they say, 'Death is the default. There's no avoiding it. It's the background into which we will inevitably melt. We will rot and so will you. But in the meantime, eat, see, smell, taste, listen, touch. Look how commonplace and how beautiful we are.'
And they really were. Are." show less
Tamar by Mal Peet is a vividly told story that jumps back and forth from WW II to the present. In 1944 two soldiers are dropped into Holland to help organize the Resistance while in 1995 a young woman launches her search to reveal family secrets from the strange clues in a shoebox left for her by her grandfather.
This is a story of love, jealousy and betrayal. I found the love triangle a bit of a stretch, but the details about Holland during this last year of World War II was fascinating. I show more am not usually a fan of books that follow two timelines but I thought this plot device worked well here and I found myself totally drawn into both stories. The “twist” at the end of the book was certainly no surprise but overall I found this book highly readable.
Tamar is classified as a YA book but I would say it’s definitely for 14+ as the author does not steer away from the brutality of the war. Tamar is a well constructed, multi-layered story that I enjoyed. show less
This is a story of love, jealousy and betrayal. I found the love triangle a bit of a stretch, but the details about Holland during this last year of World War II was fascinating. I show more am not usually a fan of books that follow two timelines but I thought this plot device worked well here and I found myself totally drawn into both stories. The “twist” at the end of the book was certainly no surprise but overall I found this book highly readable.
Tamar is classified as a YA book but I would say it’s definitely for 14+ as the author does not steer away from the brutality of the war. Tamar is a well constructed, multi-layered story that I enjoyed. show less
The South American goalkeeper who has just led his team in winning the World Cup tells his life story to the most famous South American sports writer in an exclusive interview, but Paul (the writer) gets so much more than he bargained for in El Gato's story, and the keeper has his own motives for telling all of his secrets.
I honestly didn't think I'd like this book, because I couldn't imagine enjoying any book about any kind of sport. But this one is about so much more than soccer. It show more combines a deep-set love of the game with a coming-of-age story wrapped in magical realism and with a healthy dose of environmental consciousness. In short, it's a winner. show less
I honestly didn't think I'd like this book, because I couldn't imagine enjoying any book about any kind of sport. But this one is about so much more than soccer. It show more combines a deep-set love of the game with a coming-of-age story wrapped in magical realism and with a healthy dose of environmental consciousness. In short, it's a winner. show less
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 65
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 3,224
- Popularity
- #7,937
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 122
- ISBNs
- 237
- Languages
- 9
- Favorited
- 2