Matthew Flinder's Cat

Matthew Flinder's Cat by Courtenay, Bryce. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781552783771.

Billy OShannessy, once a prominent barrister, is now on the street where he sleeps on a bench outside the State Library. Above him on the window sill 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 boys imagination by telling him the story of the circumnavigation of Australia as seen through Trims eyes, Billy is drawn deeply into Ryans 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.