Cat, Herself

Author of such spellbinding fantasies as The Knight of the Golden Plain and The Kelpie's Pearls, Hunter draws readers into the world of Catriona (Cat) McPhie, whose kin are travelers, or tinkers, as they are called by people who despise them and suspect them all of thieving. Cat resents the slurs on her family but she's just as disturbed by the roles assigned female travelers and adhered to, paradoxically, by men and women who cherish freedom. When she is 15, Cat scorns Charlie Drummond, who loves her, and gets a taste of independence when her father teaches her his skills. When Charlie asks her to marry him, Cat turns him down. Newlyweds travel with the husband's parents, and Cat hates the way Charlie's father beats his mother, and no one intervenes. She doesn't know that Charlie hates it, too. Cat's big moment comes when she knows that she loves Charlie, but she won't change for him or any man. The satisfactory, unmanipulated resolution crowns a novel rich in characters and incidents. There are tensions, frights, and lovely humorous happenings here, based on the lives of real travelers. Hunter ensures that we will care about and remember them. (11-14)