- Title:
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Matthew Flinders' Cat
- Written by:
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Bryce Courtenay
- Read by:
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Humphrey Bower
- Format:
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Unabridged CD Audio Book
- Number of CDs:
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13
- Duration:
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16 hours 13 minutes
- Published:
-
July 01 2009
- Available Date:
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July 01 2009
- Age Category:
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Adult
- ISBN:
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9781742334479
- Genres:
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Fiction; Australian Fiction; Contemporary Fiction
- Publisher:
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Bolinda audio
Qty
Format
Price
Bolinda price
Bestseller
From Australia's bestselling author.
Billy O'Shannessy, once a prominent barrister, is now on the street where he sleeps on a bench outside the State Library. Above him on the windowsill rests a bronze statue of Matthew Flinders' cat, Trim. Ryan is a ten-year-old, a near street kid heading for all the usual trouble. The two meet and form an unlikely friendship. Appealing to the boy's imagination by telling him the story of the circumnavigation of Australia as seen through Trim's eyes, Billy is drawn deeply into Ryan's life and into the Sydney underworld. Over several months the two begin the mutual process of rehabilitation. Matthew Flinders' Cat is a modern-day story of a city, its crime, the plight of the homeless and the politics of greed and perversion. It is also a story of the human heart, with an enchanting glimpse into our past from the viewpoint of a famous cat.
"Bryce Courtenay's novels are huge bestsellers in his adopted country of Australia. In fact, he is the most popular 'popular novelist' down under. Matthew Flinders' Cat is his most recent. It is two stories in one—the tale of how the friendship between an engaging alcoholic-lawyer-become-street-person (Billy O'Shannessy) and an equally engaging, but troubled, boy (Ryan) ultimately saves them both. And it's the tale told by Billy to Ryan of Trim, the cat that sailed with Australia's great explorer, Matthew Flinders. Humphrey Bower reads terrifically. He infuses the wide range of characters with personality, including the well-educated Billy (sober and drunk), Ryan, with his mask of cool, a sad aboriginal, a hardened barmaid. And he reads the story of Trim, beautifully, in Billy's voice. Well done."
AudioFile Magazine