The Cat's Table

Author(s): Michael Ondaatje

Fiction

"In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a huge liner bound for England - a 'castle that was to cross the sea'. At mealtimes, he is placed at the lowly 'Cat's Table' with an eccentric group of grown-ups and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys become involved in the worlds and stories of the adults around them, tumbling from one adventure and delicious discovery to another, 'bursting all over the place like freed mercury'. And at night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner - his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever. As the narrative moves from the decks and holds of the ship and the boy's adult years, it tells a spellbinding story about the difference between the magical openness of childhood and the burdens of earned understanding - about a life-long journey that began unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage, when all on board were 'free of the realities of the earth'. With the ocean liner a brilliant microcosm for the floating dream of childhood, The Cat's Table is a vivid, poignant and thrilling book, full of Ondaatje's trademark

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From the acclaimed author of The English Patient and In the Skin of a Lion: a stunningly beautiful and moving new novel about a boy's life-changing journey from Ceylon to England in the 1950s.

"One of the most admirable and enthralling literary novels of the year" * Daily Mail * "Extraordinary" * Guardian * "Superbly poised between the magic of innocence and the melancholy of experience" * The Economist * "Michael Ondaatje's impressive new novel, containing dreams and fantasy between a ship's flanks...is, in the most etymological way, a wonderful novel: one full of wonders" -- Philip Hensher * Daily Telegraph * "Atmospheric, elegiac and at times, like Ondaatje's most famous novel, The English Patient, unbearably poignant" -- Sebastian Shakespeare * Tatler *

Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka in 1943. In the 1950s he moved to England, and went to school in south London. In 1962 he emigrated to Canada, where he has lived ever since. His books include his memoir, Running in the Family, numerous collections of poetry, and five novels - including The English Patient which won the 1992 Booker Prize.

General Fields

  • : 9780099554424
  • : Random House UK
  • : VINTAGE ARROW - MASS MARKET
  • : 0.266
  • : July 2012
  • : 198mm X 129mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Michael Ondaatje
  • : Paperback
  • : Paperback
  • : 1207
  • : 1207
  • : English
  • : English
  • : 813/.54
  • : 813/.54
  • : 240
  • : 240
  • : FA
  • : FA