Henry and Cato
First edition cover
|
|
| Author | Iris Murdoch |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Max Beckmann |
| Country | England |
| Published | 1976 (Chatto & Windus) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 340 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 644376533 |
Henry and Cato is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1976, it was her eighteenth novel.
Set in London and the English countryside, the plot centres on two childhood friends who have not seen each other for several years. Henry is an art historian who returns to England from the United States upon inheriting his family estate, and Cato is a Roman Catholic priest who is losing his faith and has secretly fallen in love with a seventeen-year-old boy . Their stories, separate at the beginning of the novel, converge as it progresses.
The complex story is supported by formal plot symmetries and doubleness is an important theme throughout. The plot, which involves a violent kidnapping, has elements of the thriller genre. The book was generally favourably received by contemporary reviewers.
The two main characters, Henry Marshalson and Cato Forbes, were childhood friends who grew up as neighbours in the English countryside. As the novel begins, they are in their early thirties, and have not seen each other for several years. Their stories are presented separately at first but converge as the novel progresses.
Henry is the younger son of a wealthy landowner. On his father's early death, Henry's elder brother Sandy inherited all the property, including the family home, Laxlinden Hall. Henry went to the United States as a graduate student and then taught art history at a small midwestern college. When Sandy is killed in a car accident, Henry is his sole heir. Henry returns to Laxlinden, where his mother Gerda is living, to claim his inheritance.
Cato Forbes is a Roman Catholic priest living in a mission house in a poor area of London. Cato is the son of an atheist university professor and the older brother of Colette, who has left college and returned to her father's home. At the beginning of the novel the mission has been officially closed and the derelict house from which it operated has been condemned. Cato is in the process of losing his faith, and has secretly fallen in love with a seventeen-year-old boy called Beautiful Joe, who claims to be a petty criminal and an aspiring gangster.
Henry resolves to sell all his inherited property and give away the proceeds. Henry intends for his mother to live in a cottage in a nearby village, also part of the Marshalson estate. Her friend Lucius Lamb, a poet who has been living at Laxlinden Hall for several years, and whom Henry dislikes, will have to find a new home on his own. Henry first confides his plans to Cato, whom he visits in the mission, and Cato tries unsuccessfully to dissuade him. Their conversation is overheard by Joe, who questions Cato about Henry's wealth.
When going through his late brother's possessions, Henry discovers that Sandy had a flat in London. He visits the flat and finds a woman named Stephanie Whitehouse living there. Stephanie tells Henry that she was Sandy's mistress, and that she is a former prostitute and stripper. Henry begins an affair with her, and decides to marry her and take her back to the United States with him. When he tells his mother that he plans to sell the property and marry Stephanie, she at first protests but later seems to accept the situation. Henry takes Stephanie to stay at Laxlinden Hall, where she is befriended by Lucius and Gerda. Stephanie disagrees with Henry's plan to sell everything and leave the country, telling him she would like to live at Laxlinden. Gerda tries to promote a marriage between Henry and Cato's younger sister Colette, who has been in love with Henry since she was a child. Colette writes to him, declaring her love and proposing marriage, but he professes not to take her seriously.
...
Wikipedia