Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern World – Kathryn Hughes

in conversation with Jake Hall

15 October, 2025 at 6:00 pm

The year is 1900 and Britain is in the grip of a cat craze. Duchesses smuggle exquisite Siamese, working men compete for prizes for the fattest tabby, single ladies make a fortune from breeding Blue Persians. An animal that had been regarded as a servant or urban nuisance for centuries is transforming into a cherished pet and much-loved family member. Kathryn Hughes chronicles the cat craze through the life and times of commercial artist Louis Wain. Wain’s anthropomorphic drawings of cats in top hats, falling in love, driving cars are some of the most recognisable images from that era.

Catland was a Spectator, Wall Street Journal, TLS, Times, Sunday Times and The New Yorker Book of the Year 2024 and shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize.

‘Excellent … Hughes reveals a fascinating, forgotten aspect of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain: how the British fell in love with felines’ Daily Mail

Guest curated by Jake Hall