The story is told in episodic form, each encounter that the cat has being a discrete tale, complete in itself, but adding up to a deeply satisfying whole.(It would make a great TV series! - Come on, some scriptwriter somewhere!!) Three of Westall's favourite things are ghosts (he writes AMAZINGLY good ghost stories), cats, and the World War II setting, and here he manages to use 2 out of 3!! He explores "psi-trailing", the term given to the way cats have been known to find their owners again after being separated, in some cases by hundreds of miles. Here the cat sets off to look for her "special person", and all along the way she touches the lives of others, from the miserable, lonely housewife, to two farmers trying to rescue their horses from the hell of the firebombing of Coventry, from the scared young men facing nightly anti-aircraft fire in their bomber to the doomed UXB squad. It's very exciting, deeply moving in parts, reads aloud brilliantly, and is a children's classic.


Greatest book of all time   May 9, 2004
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of wit, culture and humour. I would reccomend this book to someone who is interested in WW2.


A wonderful book   September 21, 2003
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

This book is truely unique. Robert Westall has managed to write a book with an animal as it's main characture without resorting to 'cutie-pie' Disneyesque characterization. The cat IS a cat; all the luck (good or bad) that follows her is purely down to human interpretation of events.

It brings to life the horror of Coventry during the blitz, the fear in flying bombers over Germany, and the terror of being shot down. It shows human nature, how people in times of hardship have to have an explanation for what's happening. It also gives hope.

The story is simple. Blitzcat (real name Lord Gort, although its a she) looses her owner; he's gone to fly Blenheims. She can sense him, and sets off to find him. She goes from Dover to north Norfolk to Coventry, at one point even gets shot down over Germany and then rescued from Portugal.

This is not just a children's book, Adults will enjoy every single word too.