Tamlane by Anne Rundle was first published in 1970. The setting is Halloween/Hallowmas in the Scottish Border country.

Seonaid was born at Hallowmas, it’s her 17th birthday and she’s the daughter of  a Border Chieftain.  Her mother died on the night she was born and she’s looked after by her nurse Anna who has warned her never to wander far from her home at Hallowmas as it’s the night the spirits are abroad.

Anna is preparing for the Hallowmas/birthday gathering when Seonaid asks her if she can ride out on her horse, but Anna says she must take Wat with her, he’s part  of the household. But Seonaid is determined to get away on her own and she manages to do so by duping him, and so begin all her troubles.

She finds what she thinks is a talisman in the woods. When she meets a tall young man Seonaid assumes that it’s his talisman and he is looking for it, but when she offers it to him he seems afraid of it and backs off. His name is Tamlane and Seonaid can’t stop thinking about him. As people born on Hallowmas have the second sight she wonders if he was real, or did she imagine him? The Hallowmas gathering ends in disaster which starts a feud between families and more disaster. Seonaid has to fight with elves and fairies.

This is a fantasy which is loosely based on the folk tale Tam Lin

It was a good Halloween read, although not particularly a happy read. I had completely forgotten that when I was a wee girl we called the face masks we wore at Halloween  ‘false faces’. It brought back the memory and even the smell of them – not at all a nice smell, but I quite enjoyed the book which I must admit I bought because I liked the cover design.