A Cold War satire with claws and fur.

Babington uses allegory and absurdity to navigate nuclear paranoia, bureaucratic posturing, and the theatre of superpower brinkmanship. The “cat” of the title functions as an ironic observer circling the corridors of power.

Published at the height of nuclear anxiety in the early 1980s, the novel captures that peculiar atmosphere where things started to become less real and more uncanny. On that note, it feels a bit...modern? It was when leaders only spoke in abstractions while the world quietly calculates blast radius. 

Very much a product of its moment — Thatcher era, Reagan era, mutually assured destruction era — but the satire doesn’t feel entirely historical. First edition, in very good condition.