The Wildings

Roy's anthropomorphic debut novel imagines the intimate life of cats in an urban neighborhood, a rich and vibrant environment inhabited by many other creatures who are both hunters and hunted. Roy cleverly draws the reader into a world revealed through the thoughts, conversations and actions of cats, mongooses, mice, rats, and birds. Their relationships are complex and intriguing, as they regard one another with respect, curiosity, fear, and sometimes compassion and protectiveness. In a derelict neighborhood of Delhi, India, the wildings, who have always lived outside, respecting the essential laws of nature in the territory they have shared with other animals, are suddenly threatened. Many feral cats, who have lived all of their lives in filthy, crowded conditions inside "the Shuttered House," are released into the community when the elderly man with whom they have lived, dies. Having never learned to respect the laws of nature, the ferals, excited by the lush resource of available wild "meat," begin ravaging the area. An incredible battle to the death ensues. Much depends on Mara, an orange kitten with special powers of communicating with cats of all kinds, and the wildings' collective capacity for cooperation and respect. Roy's imaginative tale makes an evocative comment on life and survival. Agent: David Godwin, David Godwin Associates. (Jan.)