Writer, folklorist and animal-lover Alice Maddicott once adopted a cat called Dylan. Dylan was the kind of cat that strangers stopped to admire and talk to. But when Dylan died Alice found herself heartbroken. In her grief, she found herself studying certain images in her collections of old photos - domestic photos of women and their cats through the last hundred years, from all over the world. Cats in gardens, cats on laps, cats in alleys and on steps. Accompanied by women diffident and affectionate, fierce and whimsical, young and old. Ordinary women asking us to witness to their very particular cats. It sparked a series of questions. What did cats represent to the women who fed and cared for them? And why is the cat-owning woman viewed with suspicion? Where did the Crazy Cat Lady stereotype emerge from and which cultures revere rather than fear this relationship? Examining these questions and many more, Cat Women is fascinating and moving journey through a rich world of wild natures and domestic affections.
