Introduction
Kathryn Hughes is the author of five major books about life in Victorian Britain. The latest, Catland, reveals how cat mania exploded in the early twentieth century, transforming cats from pests into beloved pets. Described by the New York Times as ‘a delight’, the book is lavishly illustrated by the inimitable artwork of Louis Wain, whose extraordinary life story is told here for the first time.
Kathryn’s other books include prize-winning biographies of Mrs Beeton (The Short Life & Long Times of Mrs. Beeton) and George Eliot (George Eliot, The Last Victorian.) In Victorians Undone she explores the attitudes of famous Victorians to their bodies, and in The Victorian Governess she reveals the real life experiences of the young women who inhabited the domestic schoolroom. For the past twenty-five years Kathryn has been a literary critic at the Guardian and writes regularly for the New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. She has also presented many documentaries for BBC radio and television and served as a judge on major literary awards, including the Baillie Gifford, the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Costa awards.
In addition to her career as a writer, Kathryn is a university historian. Educated at Oxford and with a PhD in Victorian history, until recently she was the Professor of Life Writing at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of both the Royal Literary Society and the Royal Historical Society.
Latest book
A SPECTATOR, WALL STREET JOURNAL , TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, THE TIMES and SUNDAY TIMES and THE NEW YORKER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
Shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize 2024
The year is 1900 and Britain is in the grip of a cat craze. Duchesses are smuggling exquisite Siamese, working men are competing for prizes for the fattest tabby, single ladies are making a fortune from breeding Blue Persians. In households up and down the country, an animal that had been regarded as a servant or urban nuisance for centuries is transforming into a cherished pet and much-loved family member. Wherever you look, old social hierarchies are breaking down.
In Catland, Kathryn Hughes chronicles the cat craze through the life and times of the commercial artist Louis Wain. Wain’s anthropomorphic drawings of cats in top hats falling in love, sipping champagne, golfing, driving cars, and piloting planes are some of the most instantly recognizable images from that era. In the process they offer a sly commentary on the restless and risky culture of the very human post-Victorian world.
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