First published 2011
An eleven-year-old boy leaves Colombo in the early 1950s aboard a ship heading for England. At dinner each night, he sits at the cat's table, the seating furthest from the captain's prestigious table. His companions include two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin, plus a collection of adults the crew considers unimportant. The three boys explore every corner of the vessel as it crosses the Indian Ocean and passes through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. They discover jazz and literature through conversations with passengers. The narrator grows close to his mysterious cousin Emily, who helps him see himself differently and awakens his first romantic feelings. Another passenger, Miss Lasqueti, hides secrets of her own. Late at night, the boys secretly watch a chained prisoner whose unknown crime captivates them. The story shifts between the ocean voyage and the narrator's adult memories, revealing how this unexpected journey shaped his understanding of desire, mystery, and growing up.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, coming-of-age, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Colombo, England, India Ocean, Mediterranean, Suez Canal
Period: 1950s
269 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A. Knopf