[email protected] reviewed Catseye by Andre Norton (Dipple #1)
The repression of women writers
4 stars
This book was always on the shelf in the school library, but I didn't get around to reading it for several decades. It tells the story of a boy from the refugee class who takes on his exploiters with the help of his animal friends, with whom he has a telepathic link. It's a fine story. I wish I had read it when I was 13.
Andre Norton was one of several male pseudonyms of Alice Mary Norton, and I pay tribute to her contribution to the genre. I can't help thinking how much better it would have been if she could have been out and proud from the start, as a woman in SF. We are poorer for the sexism which has pervaded the genre and so many other parts of our society.