Kindle
$11.96
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$18.98
Paperback
$12.59
Kindle Price: $11.96

Save $6.03 (34%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Jane Gardam
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Queen of the Tambourine Kindle Edition

by Jane Gardam (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 481 ratings
See all formats and editions
Winner of the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel of the Year: “Gardam’s portrait of an insanely imaginative woman in an elusive midlife crisis is impeccably drawn” (The Seattle Times).

With prose that is vibrant and witty, The Queen of the Tambourine traces the emotional breakdown—and eventual restoration—of Eliza Peabody, a smart and wildly imaginative woman who has become unbearably isolated in her prosperous London neighborhood. The letters Eliza writes to her neighbor, a woman whom she hardly knows, reveal her self-propelled descent into madness. Eliza must reach the depths of her downward spiral before she can once again find health and serenity. This story of a woman’s confrontation with the realities of sanity will delight readers who enjoy the works of Anita Brookner, Sybille Bedford, Muriel Spark, and Sylvia Plath.

“Excellently done . . . Manic delusions have never been so persuasive . . . Very moving when it is not being exceedingly funny.” —Anita Brookner, award-winning author of The Debut

“British author Gardam, who won the Whitbread Award for this jigsaw puzzle of a novel, keeps up the suspense to the end, writing like a sorceress in the meantime.” —The Seattle Times

“Brilliant.” —The Sunday Times

“An ingenious, funny, satirical, sad story . . . Vivid and poignant.” —The Independent on Sunday

“Wickedly comic . . . masterly and hugely enjoyable.” —Daily Mail

“Marvelously subtle and moving.” —The Times (London)
Previous page
  1. Print length
    244 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Europa Editions
  5. Publication date
    September 1, 2007
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. File size
    2129 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Winner of Britain's Whitbread Award, Gardam's darkly comic novel is in the form of a series of letters written by a mentally disintegrating woman.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Eliza Peabody, a slender woman of 50 with dark, flashing eyes, is married to a terribly aloof dignitary and lives in a very posh section of London where everyone knows everyone else and their dogs, or at least pretends to. Eliza, a bit outre because of her lack of children and abundance of imagination, becomes obsessed with Joan, her enigmatic neighbor. We know this because we're privy to some very patronizing letters Eliza writes to Joan just before Joan ditches husband, children, and, yes, dog, and sets out on an arduous journey to such unvacationy places as Bangladesh. Joan's abrupt departure coincides with the disintegration of Eliza's marriage. Eliza slips into a rather mad frame of mind, which we learn about solely through the hilarious and poignant letters she continues to write and not necessarily send to the ever-elusive Joan. Gardam, recipient of two Whitbread Awards, strikes an unusual balance between wit and sweetness, creating a smart but gentle novel that seems to be from a far less explicit era than our own. Donna Seaman

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B079MFZV4W
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Europa Editions; Reprint edition (September 1, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 1, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2129 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 481 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jane Gardam

Jane Gardam

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Jane Gardam has been awarded the Heywood Hill Literary Prize for a lifetime's contribution to the enjoyment of literature; has twice won a Whitbread Award and has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She was awarded an OBE in January 2009.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
481 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A reader
5.0 out of 5 stars my favorite author lately!!
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2009
Verified Purchase
Books by Jane Gardam were recommended by Maureen Corrigan about 1 year ago (May 19, 2008) on NPR's Fresh Air show. It was explained that she's an under-recognized author in the U.S. but much better known in the U.K. I immediately set out to read the books that Ms. Corrigan mentioned, "Old Filth," "The Queen of the Tamborine," and "The People of Privilege Hill," and I just loved them. "The Queen..." was definitely my favorite. It is at times gut-busting hilarious but also extremely poignant and moving. Jane Gardam creates funny, interesting, quirky, and very believable characters. She is obviously a very keen observer of human nature and has thought deeply about the human condition. She must be one of those people who sits on buses and park benches and carefully watches the people around her -- imagining their likely back-stories and then filing each persona away in her mind for later use in her writing. For the last several months she has been my favorite author and I have sought many of her lesser-known books (some novels, others compilations of short stories). Just Wonderful!!!
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Norman Gold
4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, sad, confusing, and sweetly engaging.
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
The first pages grabbed me. I could not put it down.
And then, sucked in, I became alarmed and confused, but could not stop.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
D. P. Birkett
5.0 out of 5 stars There's method in it
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2009
Verified Purchase
This is a clever literary novel, full of sharp wit and brilliant apercus.
It is told in the form of letters from Eliza Peabody. Eliza dropped out of college to marry her successful diplomat husband and sacrificed her career to his. She is childless and suffered a miscarriage while under the care of incompetent and heartless male doctors, followed by a hysterectomy. Her husband deserts her. She becomes involved in the affairs of her neighbors in an affluent London suburb and lapses into some kind of mental illness.
Jane Gardam is evidently a follower of Foucault, the French post-structuralist. She sees the mentally ill as wiser and better than the rest of us. Eliza is able to see through hypocrisy and pretence and to detect genuine goodness. She speaks truths that show that she is morally and intellectually superior to those around her. At the beginning Eliza is represented merely as an intrusive eccentric who is a comically inept advice-giver. Later on her mental illness is used as plot device to pad the narrative and to connect the stories about the neighbors.She forms fantasies, and segues into delusions and hallucinations whenever the writer wants to extend the story line. The reader is often left uncertain whether the action is supposed to be taking place in reality or in Eliza Peabody's head.
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Osaggie
3.0 out of 5 stars Stragely captivating, sometimes hilariously observant woman
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2009
Verified Purchase
This story held my attention because the writer creates such a fascinating character, whose letters to another woman tell her history, reveal her personality, and her fragile state of mind. At first, she's an appalling busybody, but she quickly becomes sympathetic when she experiences a personal shock that cracks a facade bolstered over a lifetime of repression, and ultimately awakens to her true self. As her sense of propriety crumbles, she confronts the truth about herself -- her youth, marriage, relationships to her neighborhood -- and she's sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking. At the end, I had to go back and re-read to "get" what she had hallucinated as opposed to what had really happened, even though her creator/author has her clarify the madness for the reader at the conclusion.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Carol Messer
5.0 out of 5 stars An All-Time Jane Gardam Favorite!
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is a glorious, heartbreaking and redemptive work - one of Jane Gardam's very best. The heroine is revealed, throughout a long series of letters to a missing neighbor, to be a plucky, intelligent and sensitive woman who worked hard at living a traditional life as a wife but who lost sight of her own value and personhood. The letters become, with time, more and more insightful as the writer, sometimes deluded and nearing madness, realizes hard truths about herself and the people she cares for. This riveting story is delicately imbued with a near-palpable holiness. I read the book on my Kindle but loved it so much that I purchased a hard copy.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Sue Updike-Porter
4.0 out of 5 stars A disturbing chronicle of a descent into madness.
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
I recently discovered Jane Gardham and read the Old Filth trilogy with growing respect. Her characters are so complete and well developed. She's a master of changing points of view. So I looked forward to reading The Queen of the Tambourine. It isn't easy. It is a difficult to read description of a woman losing touch with the world she lives in while creating an alternate reality that she organizes, manages and inhabits.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
M. Metteer
5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of my favorite books from the past year
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2014
Verified Purchase
This is a pleasure to read on every level. The language and texture of the writing is absolutely a pleasure, page after page. And the story itself is unique and original while being accessible and familiar. This is one of my favorite books from the past year.
I am now starting on my fourth book by this author, and I have to say all of her books have been a fine reading experience, although this one is still my favorite.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Virginia Scanlan
2.0 out of 5 stars Psychosis
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
While the author is a magnificent wordsmith, Eliza, her main character's ongoing psychosis was exhausting and difficult to follow. Teasing out the truth of her life vs. her delusions, hallucinations and paranoia oftentimes was confusing and exhausting.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
olleran
2.0 out of 5 stars Briefroman, leider!
Reviewed in Germany on January 20, 2023
Verified Purchase
Wollte das Buch wirklich mögen, aber Briefromane sind nicht mein Ding. Je weiter man liest, desto länger werden die Briefe und desto verworrener wird die Handlung. Das Buch ist hochgelobt, mich hat nach der Hälfte die Lust verlassen.
Report
Vicuña
5.0 out of 5 stars Human interest
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2016
Verified Purchase
This story is unexpectedly complex. It starts as a straightforward demand from one neighbour to another. The request is clear and the social lines are clearly drawn. But the narrative then evolves into a far more complicated exploration of relationships at many levels, from deeply personal to that of superficial friends/neighbours. The slow burn start evolves into a dissection of marriage, friendship, lost hope and acceptance. It's an intriguing tale with an element of role reversal; the person initially in command becomes the one needing reassurance and acceptance.

I was pulled in by a realistic narrative. Although I found it difficult to empathise with the central characters, none of whom are perfect, the dilemma they explore are interesting and universal and for that reason, this is a thoroughly rewarding and thought provoking read.
13 people found this helpful
 Report
Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2018
Verified Purchase
I heard this book being discussed on radio four and thought it sounded interesting. I wasn't disappointed. Although the plot isn't exactly straightforward it is both intriguing and poignant. Gardam's command of English and her eye for detail make even otherwise banal moments seem quite fascinating. Her characters are at once eccentric and believable, the dialogue confusing and engrossing! This novel will make you laugh and cry at the same time. A beautiful, satisfying read!
3 people found this helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Quirky and readable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2020
Verified Purchase
Quirky and readable but maybe a little overlong.
Report
marion
5.0 out of 5 stars Jane Gardam
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
A challenging book by Jane Gardam. I need to re-read it in order to begin to understand it, I think.

Marion in Hailey Oxfordshire
Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report