Blitzcat

More than a decade after his death, Robert Westall retains his reputation as one of the most powerful writers for children. He was awarded two Carnegie Medals (for The Machine Gunners and The Scarecrows) and used his own childhood experiences of World War II in his books.

Sensitive readers will realize at once that the story of Lord Gort is one of those tales that, once begun, demands to be finished. Black cats bring good luck, or so it is believed by the many people whose lives are changed by their encounters with the cat called Lord Gort. Lord Gort is an ordinary cat: she has no magic powers and rarely does anything more than what other cats can do. When her master leaves home to fight the Germans in World War II Lord Gort sets out to track him down. In the course of her travels the black cat is befriended by a lonely volunteer in the Observer Corps, a maverick sergeant, an elderly carter and a young war widow. Adopted by the rear gunner of a bomber plane, Lord Gort flies on numerous missions over enemy territory. After many successful flights, the intrepid feline's luck runs out; she and the rear gunner are forced to bail out over occupied France. With the help of the Spanish and French resistance movements the man and the cat return to England, where Lord Gort is reunited with her master. Each of these glimpses of men and women in wartime is as perfect as a pearl; Lord Gort's journey is the single black thread on which the precious beads are strung. Ages 12-up.
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