Matthew Flinders' Cat by Bryce Courtenay, ISBN 9780143000983

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This is the story of a drunk, a boy and a cat.

Billy O'Shannessy, once prominent in law circles, is now on the street where he sleeps on a bench underneath a window of the State Library on the sill of which 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 and whose mother is a heroin addict. The two meet and form an unlikely and often difficult friendship.

Appealing to the boy's imagination by telling him the story of the circumnavigation of Australia told through Trim's eyes, Billy is drawn deeply into Ryan's life and 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, it's 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 the famous cat.

The novel is an extraordinary and well-researched narrative with all the usual Bryce Courtenay twists and turns. It will keep you intrigued to the very last page.

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About the Author: Bryce Courtenay

Bryce Courtenay (born 14 August 1933) is a South African-born Australian novelist born in Johannesburg. He spent most of his early years in a small village in the Lebombo Mountains in South Africa's Limpopo province.
His novels are primarily set in either Australia, his adopted country, or South Africa, the country of his birth. His first book, The Power of One, was published in 1989 and, despite Courtenay's fears that it would never sell, quickly became one of Australia's best-selling books by any living author. The story has since been made into a film - as well as being re-released in a version fit for children to read. Bryce Courtenay is one of Australia's most commercially successful authors. However, only The Power of One has been published in the United States. Courtenay claims that this is because "American publishers for the most part have difficulties about Australia, they are interested in books in their own country first and foremost. However, we receive many e-mails and letters from Americans who have read my books and I am hoping in the future that publishers will recognize that there is a market for all my books in the U.S."
He came to Australia after being banned from returning to South Africa for starting a weekend school at the prestigious boys school he attended. He had met Benita (whom he later married and has three children with), who invited him to come to Australia, which he did, and has lived there ever since. Bryce Courtenay now lives in Bowral, NSW, with his partner, Christine.

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