The Blue Cat

About this book

Columba, growing up in Australia on the eve of the Second World War, knows Europe only as a far-away place where mysterious events occur and threaten her life.

One day, a boy called Ellery – silent, pale and constantly reading – arrives in the school. At the same time, a blue cat appears, apparently from nowhere. The two new arrivals are linked in ways that the author never makes explicit, giving this book a poetic atmosphere and leaving much to the reader’s interpretation. Included throughout are genuine texts and illustrations of the period.

There is a notable absence of any reflection on the parallels between White Australian treatment of the Aboriginal Australian people, and the treatment of Jews during the Second World War, and this absence reduces the moral impact of the book. The racism of the times is also accurately reflected in the book without comment, so adults may therefore wish to make this book one to discuss with child readers.