ABANDONED. Modern boy transported to fantasy world ruled by tyrant

[Christina]

Hello everyone! Could someone help me identity the title and author of this book?

I read this young adult novel 20 years ago, about his modern age boy transported to a fantasy world where I get the impression it had Celtic or Irish elements. This world is ruled by some evil or tyrant, and there was a resistance led by a man named Tam. In fact, I could almost swear the book was entitled TAM, but I can't find such a book. If I remember correctly, this Tam played the pipes.

The cover was possibly yellow and had a simple illustration of Tam playing the pipes (or flute?), but I could be mistaken... The book was not particularly thick, possibly around 150-200 pages.

SPOILER WARNING

During the story, Tam was captured by evil forces and had his tongue torn off. This is the part I distinctly remember! (Perhaps he sang as well? Was this why this was done?) And then somehow by some magic he led his people to victory or other. I cannot even remember if Tam was healed and restored. All this is seen through the eyes of the boy.

I remember the book being very exciting, and I wouldn't mind tracking down the copy again...if I only remember who wrote it!

That's all I can recall. Thanks :)

[Rebecca]

Sounds like a version of the Scottish "Tam Lin" ballad. This has been retold many times in different books, unfortunately I'm not sure which one you're looking for. Of the ones I've read, I don't remember any that exactly match your description, but I have several versions of this, so I will try to review them to see.

This site (http://tam-lin.org/versions.html) might be worth looking over to see if anything rings a bell. It has a section of published works that have been based on this ballad.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Christina, are you still looking for this book?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Christina is still active in GR. I sent her a PM telling her about the suggestion for where to look. If she doesn't respond in a timely manner, then the next Mod to read this thread can move it down to Abandoned.