Matthew Flinders' Cat

Matthew Flinders' Cat is a 2002 novel by Bryce Courtenay (ISBN 0670910619), published by Viking Press. It records the relationship between a homeless former lawyer and alcoholic, and a young skateboard riding boy with a troubled background, who slowly bond over tales of Matthew Flinders and "Trim", the ship's cat who travelled with him on a number of his voyages, including the circumnavigation of Australia.

Matthew Flinders' Cat

First edition
Author	Bryce Courtenay
Subject	Australian fiction, homeless persons
Genre	Adult fiction
Set in	Sydney
Publisher	Penguin Books Australia Ltd
Publication date	2002
ISBN	0670910619

Reviewer Charles Waterstreet, felt that the characters in the novel were "created from the comics, not the mind", and that the story was "distilled from headlines writ small, the novel's equivalent of elevator music".^[1]