Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Lyons Public Library | SF MUR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Murphy, S. | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
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Summary
Summary
Now reissued--the epic fantasy from the beloved author of the Joe Grey mystery series featuring a shapeshifter who has been deposed from her throne and forced through the magical portal between her world and Earth, where she adopts the form of a small calico cat.
Author Notes
Fiction author Shirley Rousseau Murphy grew up in Long Beach, California and majored in fine and commercial art at the San Francisco Art Institute. She has worked as a commercial artist and has exhibited paintings and sculptures extensively on the West Coast. She has also been a designer and an interior designer, as well as in a library in the Panama Canal Zone. Murphy has written several children's books, plus the fantasy novel The Catswold Portal, the Dragonbards trilogy, and the popular Joe Grey mystery series, for which she has won eight Muse Medallion awards from the Cat Writers' Association. She and her husband live in Carmel, California.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
YA-- In 1957 in the San Francisco area, a garden shared by six surrounding houses has a tool shed built into a berm. The shed is closed by a magnificent, intricately carved wooden gate featuring nine rows of nine heads of cats, each projecting out of the wood. Unbeknownst to Earth dwellers, this gate is one of several conduits connecting the underground netherworld with the upperworld. Living belowground is the evil Queen Siddonie, who wants control of both realms; attempting to stop her is Melissa, a kidnapped abovegrounder. The book offers a diverse collection of characters, from the elusive Catswolders who are able to shape shift between human and cat form; to the cantankerous but warm-hearted Harpie; the magnificent, powerful Griffon; and the Black Dragon of the Hellpit, who epitomizes everything that is loathsome. Rich, descriptive imagery is found on every page, making this underground world come alive. And in the end, the power of art, magic, images, and love help Melissa as she overcomes the malevolent queen.-- Pam Spencer, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This delightful fantasy posits a Netherworld located under modern California and peopled by humans, mythological creatures--including Harpies and Griffons--and shape-changers such as the Catswold, who can shift between cat and human forms. In this land where technology fails but magic works, Melissa, a young woman with no memory of her past, goes to the city of Affandar, ruled by the cruel Queen Siddonie, to learn her history. Taking a strange interest in Melissa, the queen teaches her magic spells far superior to those of the common people. From an imprisoned Harpy she sets free, Melissa learns she is heir to the Catswold throne, but for her disobedience she is turned into her cat form and cast forth in the upperworld. There she is taken in as a pet by artist Braden West, who, unaware of her true nature, falls in love with her. Then Melissa discovers how to regain her human form and returns to the Netherworld pursued by Braden. Murphy, a writer of children's books, balances her rich, detailed Netherworld with a vividly characterized earthly realm. Her cat people, in particular, ring true. (Apr . ) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Longish first novel about a magical world where cats change to people and back again, from a veteran children's author. In 1957 San Francisco, successful painter Braden West mourns the recent death of his wife, Alice. He has an important show coming up but is too depressed to work. Meanwhile, he's mysteriously drawn, as was his wife, to a vivid sculpture of cats carved into the door of his house--a sculpture that turns out to be the portal into the cat world, through which he is drawn. But the bulk of the story is given over to 17-year-old Melissa, a farm girl and then a scullery maid, whose real heritage as the ``Queen of faerie'' has been hidden from her through black magic. So off she goes on a perilous, not very original quest. As in fairy tale, there's a wicked queen, who at one point turns Melissa into a tiny calico cat. West joins Melissa in their quest, and they fall in love, a subplot with all the variety of a genre romance. And, of course, West has found his Alice again, more or less. Murphy is often lyrical, but she leans too heavily on the conventions laid down by C.S. Lewis, Anne McCaffrey, and Andre Norton. The most interesting writing here is in fact the cat lore, which Murphy seems to know everything there is to know about and which she associates with what might be called the archetypal female. The interweaving between real and fantasy worlds is well done; the implied notion, intriguing if arguable, is that women are like cats inside--cool, independent, and a bit mystical. Murphy needs to leave her mentors behind, and the love story's a trifle soggy. But, still, she's a writer to watch.
Booklist Review
Murphy, author of a number of well-received novels for children and YAs, makes her first foray into adult fiction with a captivating feline fantasy set on 1957 Earth as well as in the Netherworld, or world of faerie. Both lands are under threat from Queen Siddonie, pretender to the throne of faerie, who plans to conquer the Netherworld, something that will have considerable negative impact on the upper world. The rightful queen, 17-year-old Melissa, is transformed by Siddonie into a small calico cat with no memory and is left to die along an upper-world highway. By instinct, Melissa makes her way back to the vicinity of a portal between the two worlds, where she takes up residence with artist Braden West, still mourning the death of his wife and decidedly not a cat lover. Characterizations are dynamic, whether human or otherwise, and the growing relationship between Braden and Melissa--as cat and as human--is ingeniously handled as is Melissa's Catswold heritage. Murphy has carefully created two well-realized, disparate worlds linked by the dramatic struggle to defeat the evil queen. Romantic fantasy with plenty of action and sure appeal. ~--Sally Estes
Library Journal Review
A young woman struggling to free her people and claim her rightful place as the queen of the faerie finds unexpected assistance from an artist coming to grips with his mental demons in this first adult novel by a popular author of juvenile and YA fiction. Shapechanging catfolk, an evil sorceress, an oracular toad, and a magic mirror lend a fairytale-like quality to a story that takes place in two worlds: the underworld of the faerie and mid-20th-century San Francisco. Like Charles de Lint and Tanya Huff, Murphy demonstrates a rare feel for crossworld fantasy, bringing modern and mystical landscapes and people into an illuminating juxtaposition. More than a ``feline fantasy,'' this engaging story should be considered a priority purchase. Highly recommended. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.