In their first joint effort, niece-and-aunt team Lisa Martin and Valerie Martin construct an enchanting bildungsroman with cats and follow their unintentional but adventurous travels across the sea.
The feline brothers lead different lives on Nova Scotia's coast. Cecil actively seeks travel as a ratter on schooners, living by the motto "Don't be a chicken, be a cat! Be adventurous!" Anton, however, prefers to stay in town, reticent to wander too close to the ships for fear of impressment. The town brims with tales of those who were conscripted into service and never seen again: "Anton felt a little ill thinking of how it might happen to any cat, at any time." When homebody Anton disappears one day, their mother implores Cecil to take to the seas on a rescue mission. Cecil pursues his quest, guided by a cryptic sea legend, "It is where lost things are found. You must go where the eye sees the eye." In the brothers' separate narratives, they encounter a wealth of new creatures on land and sea.
In her first children's title, Martin (Orange Prize winner for Property) continues her tradition of historic scholarship. She and her co-author effortlessly submerge readers into the setting through well-chosen dialogue and prose. The extensive ship and seafaring terminology will educate and enlighten, accompanied by Kelly Murphy's charming illustrations. --Jessica Bushore, former public librarian and freelance writer