Catseye

No cover

Andre Norton: Catseye (Undetermined language, 1974, Gollancz)

Undetermined language

Published Nov. 24, 1974 by Gollancz.

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4 stars (1 review)

8 editions

The repression of women writers

4 stars

This book was always on the shelf in the school library, but I didn't get around to reading it for several decades. It tells the story of a boy from the refugee class who takes on his exploiters with the help of his animal friends, with whom he has a telepathic link. It's a fine story. I wish I had read it when I was 13.

Andre Norton was one of several male pseudonyms of Alice Mary Norton, and I pay tribute to her contribution to the genre. I can't help thinking how much better it would have been if she could have been out and proud from the start, as a woman in SF. We are poorer for the sexism which has pervaded the genre and so many other parts of our society.