As Janet tries to puzzle over the anomalies on campus, she uncovers clues to a much older and more dangerous cycle of events which seems straight out of a fairy-tale. The boys are strangely beholden to one Professor Medeous, who is head of Classics – brilliant and manipulative – and a complete mystery. The rumored ghost in Janet’s dorm building has been throwing books out the window, unless it’s someone playing a prank no one can quite understand.

Nick, Robin, and Thomas are more comfortable arguing over Elizabethan plays than they are going on dates or discussing modern novels. The Classics department has a habit of riding horses through the woods every Hallowe’en night to the sound of bagpipes.

In the midst of academic over-ambition qualms about birth control and relationship issues, Janet’s started to notice that things aren’t quite normal on campus. They are college freshmen and theatrical types, after all. The three boys she and her room-mates start to date, and the boys’ acquaintances, behave in a fashion which might be mysteriously esoteric and might just be pretentiously self-impressed. Janet starts her undergraduate studies, and she quickly makes friends with an arcane group of fellow students. In Pamela Dean’s novel Tam Lin, the ballad’s general theme and storyline has been brought to a college campus in the 1970s. ( Thoughts About Ballads: “Tam Lin” Re-tellings) “Tam Lin – The Faery Host” by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law Read that first if you aren’t familiar with the legend. I discussed the characters and themes of the original ballads in a separate post from this one, because I already had way too much to say about this one book.

I know several different versions of the song, but they all follow the same general theme, which I have summarized here, for anyone who doesn’t know it. Was Pamela Dean’s version of the story worth the anticipation? Not entirely. Tam Lin is my favorite legend of all time (I guess it’s technically a ballad), and the story has inspired a whole bunch of really excellent novels and re-tellings. It’s been on my shelf for so long, but I forced myself to wait until spring to start reading. I was so excited to finally read this book. Tam Lin is part of the “Fairy Tale Series” created by Terri Windling.Īge range recommendation: 15 + (Mostly because the academic subject matter might be boring to many younger readers, not due to any particular graphic unpleasantness.)

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean