Tamsin Mass Market Paperback – June 17, 2004

I read the kindle edition with the cats on the cover, not this one, just to be clear. It's not available to select on GR.The narrator writes this tale from almost five years later, about her experience when she was a young teen. Most of the book is slow-paced but the prose isn't simple, which is why I kept reading. I read the last quarter within a day, and am very happy with myself for deciding to read it. I recommend it to anyone for whom the prose and the characters hold appeal because I so enjoyed how it resolves, and maybe you will, too.

Just an amazing book! It starts off slowly….but, do not give up on it. It is wonderful….lots of British history things, ghosts, cats, the Wild Hunt, I particularly liked the “Old lady of the Elder Tree”, and many other legends. To me there were some “scary” parts with the Wild Hunt….but, not enough to make me give up the book though.So, Curl up in a comfy chair with a cup of tea and enjoy……this is a book I absolutely will read again.

The author is one of my favorite writers of all time, based on the strength of The Last Unicorn. It took four decades for me to read another novel by Mr. Beagle ... perhaps afraid that if I read something by him that I disliked, it would lessen the impact of his earlier work.I should have had no concerns in that regard.Tamsin is the story of Jenny Gluckstein, who moves with her mother from New York City to a very different life in Dorset with her new stepfather and stepbrothers. The title character is a ghost, hinted at for the first third of the book; that time is spent describing the Dorset countryside and the various Fay creatures inhabiting the area. Tamsin Willoughby has haunted the house since her death three hundred years earlier and the circumstances of her death provide the thrust of the story from the moment we meet her. Before we meet her, we meet her cat, who becomes a companion of Jenny's own pet feline, Mister Cat ... so the ghost story begins with the ghost of a cat, not a human being.Mr. Beagle (apropos of his last name) writes animals extremely well. These are not fantasy cats, talking animals who help their owners solve problems; they are as alive and real as their owners on the page.Loved it, I'm sure I'll reread it at some point, and it's high time I explored more works by Mr. Beagle.

This was an amazing book. And I now believe -- in ghosts and pookas and things that go bump in the night, if only because Peter S Beagle wrote about it. Oh, and if you haven't read "The Last Unicorn" please do. You will believe in them, too.

A wonderful, believable, unusual narrator and a beautiful ghost story for all ages of readers. And there are cats. Amazing book!

I kept checking the cover of this book as I was reading it. Peter Beagle wrote this? Peter Beagle, a (at the time) 60-year-old man? The narrative voice of TAMSIN -- it's first-person from the title character's perspective, who is a teenaged girl -- is so clear, sharp, and dead on, that it's hard to believe that Beagle, a man over 40 years removed from teenagerhood, could write it. And yet he did.TAMSIN is a ride that steadily picks up speed through the course of the novel and, by the end, is a freight train rushing towards a quite-honestly-thrilling conclusion. It begins with the protagonist's mother's remarriage to a Brit and ends with a ghostly battle for a soul. And in the middle are fantastic friendships, including one with one helluva cat. (I think some of the drama around the protagonist's relationship with her cat marks the only time I've cried at an owner/pet scene in a novel. And it's not even tearjerker nonsense, just a normal bump in the road for a person with a cat.)This is a fantasy for people who are fed up with swords, sorcery, and women relegated to background characters. I think it is the spiritual cousin to Robin McKinley's SUNSHINE, which is high praise, as far as I'm concerned. Do yourself a favor and read it.

This book, although written for much older readers, was , in my opinion, not as creatively or artistically written as other novels of Peter S. Beagle.The principal example being, the beautifully and flowing metaphors found within his Children's novel , The Last Unicorn. Tasmin is a RECOMMENDED read for a mature reader , but could never surpass the writing skills that can be found within T L U . RECOMMENDED READING.

Beagle is one of my half-dozen favorite writers, but TAMSIN is a masterpiece even for him. I read it cover to cover in two evenings, then went back and read it cover to cover again. There is SO much beautiful detail woven into the substructure of the story! Beyond mere good research, he's captured the FEEL of Dorset, even the SMELL of Dorset. luscious, a real treasure. My only complain is that I want to know what happened next to the protagonist - I hope Mr. Beagle writes a sequel!

One of the best books I've read in a long time! I only wish it was longer.

Mit einigem Vorbehalt gegen den Autor, von welchen auch "The Last Unicorn" stammt (welches mir nicht gefällt), habe ich mich doch ueberreden lassen diese Buch zu lesen und war doch einigermassen uebrrascht, dass es durchaus spannend geschrieben ist und mich ueber das ganze Buch hinweg amuesiert hat. Der Schreibstil ist nicht zu schwer, wodurch mir als non-native speaker auch die englische Ausgabe sehr gefällt.

World Fantasy Awardの2000年のノミネート作品。ちなみにこの年のWinnerはThraxas（邦題は「魔術探偵スラクサス」）。・・・って、何で？私的にはTamsinの方が断然面白かったんですけど。　英語を母国語とせず、はっきりいってそんなに英語の力があるとはいえない私でも、この作品の描写は「きれい」と感じられたので、凄いと思った。ストーリーの運び方が、少し冗長に感じることもあるかもしれないけど（幽霊が出てくるのが少し遅かったしね。その辺でスラクサスに負けたのか？）、中盤から後半は、ぐいぐいと引き込まれて読みました。　これがなぜ邦訳されていないのかも理解不能。いい加減、出版社は、ノリと一般受けだけがいいだけの作品を邦訳することにかけてる時間と労力と資金を、こういう作品に振り替えてほしい。　お勧めです。

Loved it as good as the other prayer beagle books I have.

Young New Yorker Jenny Gluckstein must move with her mother and her beloved pet Mister Cat to live with her new stepfather and stepbrothers in the English countryside. Once there, she is surprised to discover an exciting (and often frightening) shadowy spirit world that will forever change her.Tamsin was such a lovely surprise. A book I almost didn't get, clumped in with bunch of other books I'd been dying to read; it wound up being my favourite of the lot. I'd been hesitant because, knowing it was a classic of the fantasy genre, and having read many rave reviews, I'd already read Peter S. Beagles The Last Unicorn; however, in spite of (or perhaps because of) this, ultimately, it hadn't quite lived up to my expectations. I thought the writing was wonderful, I just didn't really connect with any of the characters. Having said that, because Mr. Beagle is such a legend, I decided to give him another try, and boy am I happy I did! Tamsin wound up being completely and utterly gorgeous, and perhaps the thing I wound up loving most about it (besides Jenny's unique voice, which, in my opinion, is the best use of first-person narration since Dodie Smith's classic I Capture The Castle) was the setting. The modern time period, in combination with the authors flowing, classic writing style, was delightful. And because Jenny's voice felt so real, and her world was in many ways very similar to my own; I felt it made the fantastical elements that much stronger, and unnerving.. If, for example, while I had been reading it, a boggart had appeared in my kitchen, or a ghost had sat down on the end of my bed, I'm sure I wouldn't have been surprised at all...All in all, I thought it was absolutely fantastic, and definitely worthy of five stars.