Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of a Modern World by Kathryn Hughes

Some called it a craze. To others it was a cult. Discover how Britain fell in love with cats and ushered in a new era.

Award-winning historian Kathryn Hughes delves into the world of cats with curiosity and charm, debunking myths in her wake with immense wit and wisdom. 

Told through the life and art of our muse and namesake, Louis Wain, Catland - Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern Age charts the rise of cats' popularity through history, meeting some fascinating characters along the way. From the cat's meat men of Victorian London (the wandering street vendors who sold offal and horsemeat to households to feed resident pets) to Frances Simpson, who skyrocketed the popularity of cat shows for pleasure and profit to usher in a new age of cat fanciers. 

In Wain's world, Post-Victorian flashy modern life was illustrated by cats doing everything from sipping champagne to flying an aeroplane.  

‘He invented a whole cat world’ declared H. G. Wells of Louis Wain. His drawings were irresistible but Catland was more than the creation of one eccentric imagination. It was an attitude – a way of being in society while discreetly refusing to follow its rules.

'Remarkable' Literary Review

'Startlingly original' Amanda Foreman

'Hughes offers feline sideways glances at class, economics, urbanisation, eugenics and gender politics, and much else' Sam Leith, The Guardian

'In Catland, Kathryn Hughes combines ingenuity, insight and immense literary charm in a study of cat culture and modernism' Elaine Showalter, Princeton University 

'Catland is a must-read for any feline fan' Cheshire & Wain