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From Michael Ondaatje: a stunning new novel?by turns poignant and electrifying?about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a sea voyage.
Knopf
October 2011
On Sale: October 4, 2011
256 pages
ISBN: 0307700119
EAN: 9780307700117
Hardcover
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Fiction
In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the βcatβs tableββas far from the Captainβs Table as can beβwith a ragtag group of βinsignificantβ adults 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 tumble from one adventure to another, bursting all over the place like freed mercury. But there are other diversions as well: one man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature. The narratorβs elusive, beautiful cousin Emily becomes his confidante, allowing him to see himself βwith a distant eyeβ for the first time, and to feel the first stirring of desire. Another Catβs Table denizen, the shadowy Miss Lasqueti, is perhaps more than what she seems. And very late every night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner, his crime and his fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever.
As the narrative moves between the decks and holds of the ship and the boyβs adult years, it tells a spellbinding storyβby turns poignant and electrifyingβabout the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.
 Media BuzzPBS News Hour - December 27, 2011
All Things Considered - September 30, 2011
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