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Women of Courage #1

Cat And Mouse

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Set in London and Ulster in 1914, Cat and Mouse is the gripping story of two sisters fighting for their ideals in the turbulent months before the outbreak of war.

When Sarah Becket, a militant suffragette determined to help free Mrs Pankhurst from prison, discovers that her own husband, a respected Liberal MP, is involved in a scandalous prostitution racket, she is devastated. Still weak from imprisonment herself, she takes a knife from her kitchen and goes out into London's West End, determined to protest for women's rights in the most dramatic way she can.

Across the Irish sea, her younger sister, Deborah Cavendish, is lonely and unloved. When her husband returns home to join the Ulster Volunteers and fight the government, she faces an agonizing choice - to end her affair with James Rankin, the trade union leader whom she she thinks can give her all the love her husband has denied her, or face social ostracism and the loss of her beloved son. When she reads about her sister's act of defiance, she resolves to go to her aid.

United by their cause, Sarah and Deborah combine to fight both male corruption and a German plot to foment civil war in Ireland,

475 pages, ebook

Published August 6, 2011

417 people are currently reading
641 people want to read

About the author

Tim Vicary

88 books336 followers
Tim Vicary is an author and a recently retired university teacher from the university of York, England. His legal thrillers about a tough British barrister, Sarah Newby, have been compared to the works of John Grisham and Scott Turow. The second book in the series, A Fatal Verdict, was awarded a B.R.A.G Medallion for an outstanding independent novel, and the third book, Bold Counsel, was awarded the Awesome Indies Seal of Excellence. He is currently writing a fourth book in the series, entitled Broken Alibi.

His four historical novels have also won praise. Nobody's Slave, a novel about the Elizabethan slave trade, won first prize in the young adult category of the Kindle Book awards 2014. His three other historical novels, Cat & Mouse, The Blood Upon the Rose, and The Monmouth Summer, are all available individually or as a boxed set of three, entitled Women of Courage.

Tim has also written about twenty much shorter books, graded readers for foreign learners of English, published by Oxford University Press. In 2010 and 2011 two of these - Titanic and The Everest Story - were each the winners in their category for the Language Learner Literature Award for the Extensive Reading Foundation.

Tim lives in the English countryside, near York. When he's not writing he likes horse-riding, cycling, and swimming.

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5 stars
157 (42%)
4 stars
123 (33%)
3 stars
74 (19%)
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11 (2%)
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6 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
Profile Image for Brenda.
5,006 reviews2,987 followers
February 19, 2021
It was 1914 and when suffragette, Sarah Becket, was arrested in London for defacing a famous painting, it wasn’t her first visit to prison. Her husband Jonathan was a politician and tried to convince her that what she was doing was wrong. But when Sarah discovered something shocking about her husband, she was more determined than ever to carry on with her cause. But being sentenced to six months in prison would be a hard slog for Sarah, especially as she refused to eat. She was force fed with the tube down her throat and into her stomach on a daily basis…

Deborah Cavendish was Sarah’s younger sister and lived in Ulster. Her husband was rarely home and when he was, he wasn’t interested in his wife. Their son Tom was eight years old, and at boarding school so Deborah was lonely with both husband and son away. When Deborah met the trade union leader, James Rankin, and he showed her kindness and care, she fell for his charms. But when Charles Cavendish returned home in preparation of joining the Ulster Volunteer Force, Deborah in turn headed to London to help support her sister.

With Germany intent on creating civil war in Ireland, Charles encouraging the unrest and corruption amassing the government circles in London, the two determined young women had a massive fight on their hands. What would be the outcome for all involved?

I chose Cat & Mouse by Tim Vicary to read simply because I needed a male author for the letter ‘V’. This one has been on my kindle since 2013 so I thought it was time! And wow! What an incredible read! The stories of the suffragettes are well known, also the force feeding by tube which was supposed to be outlawed by the Cat & Mouse Act. With the inclusion in this story of Ulster and the UVF, plus the Germans and their involvement in the lead up to WWI, Cat & Mouse, which is the 1st in the Women of Courage series, was a captivating, enthralling historical mystery which I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommended.
Author 14 books3 followers
December 19, 2012
Many surprises unfold in the plot of this book. So much so that it’s best to hold back from summarising, lest surprises for readers be spoiled.

Suffice it to say that this book contains a remarkable number of separate plots, that the author orchestrates their parallel progress with much skill, and that these plots converge in an extraordinary finale. The latter is tense, protracted, well-narrated and as horrifying and memorable as the climax of De Niro's `Taxi Driver' - though much more thought-provoking through the anguished dilemmas which arise for each participant. What a nightmare situation for each individual to face, each for different and often secret reasons! If nothing else, keep reading so you can understand the threads which converge in the utterly gripping last five chapters.

Some compelling tales from history form the backcloth behind this story. These are tales which largely have been muted in British history books or censored altogether. The extremes to which British Suffragettes took women's struggle for the right to vote, for instance, and the horrors of force-feeding of Suffragette hunger-strikers. The huge armed revolt by the original Ulster Volunteer Force and the help it received from Fifth Columnists within government forces. The underworld of vice and child prostitution serving the Edwardian gentry. The culture of sexual abuse in the British Empire's exclusive boys' boarding schools and the resulting misogynistic homosexuality common among officers in Kitchener's army. The darkest part of `Cat and Mouse' is a double saga of gay revenge between misogynistic militarists of the 1914 warmonger kind. `Cat and Mouse' presents such history with the lightest of touch. There are no heavy-handed passages over-explaining things. Some readers may find a peep at Wikipedia helpful to further illumine real events, like some Suffragette tactics, about which nowadays so many Britons are ignorant.

But while `Cat and Mouse' features such historical issues, they are not its focus. First and foremost it is a novel and about people, a mixture of romance and thriller. First it engagingly explores its characters' very different worlds. Then it carefully brings them together for a shattering conclusion. You won't forget this book!

Profile Image for Andria.
18 reviews2 followers
October 1, 2012

This is a well written and researched epic drama with great historical merit wrapped around a fascinating web of characters and interwoven diverse plot lines. Vicary shows real skill; effortlessly transporting you back in time to the pre WWI period.

The book is set in both London and Northern Ireland and focuses on two sisters; one an active suffragette campaigner and the other a campaigner against poverty. For different reasons they find themselves in loveless marriages and as the story unfolds you discover the secrets which their husbands have been keeping from them - all in the name of keeping their reputation and place in high society.

It’s titled after the 1913 ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ which was passed by Asquith’s government making the hunger strikes of the Suffragette individuals legal and the practice of force feeding illegal – however this system seemed to have had many faults as the story points out.

This book is set in a very interesting window of history, the struggles of which led to the introduction of many social and political changes. It tackles topics such as famine, poverty, poor working conditions, industrial action, hunger strikes, child prostitution and the often hypocritical state of the Edwardian society marriage. All of these historical events are skillfully put into the mix of the story which provides something for everyone: riots, romance, mystery, intrigue and crime all the while depicting lies, deception, betrayal and political struggles complete with a climatic ending – what more could you want from a novel?
578 reviews5 followers
January 31, 2019
Complex and intriguing!

Wonderful book! I loved the way the characters interacted and how they had such individual lives they melded together to tell a complex, riveting story. The characters were all very interesting people who came from different backgrounds. Their choices drastically affected the lives of those around them. While the book was about the fight for women's rights, it was so much more! It spoke of sisterly love and of motherly love and of the strength gained from that love. It also spoke of homosexual love and of love of illicit affairs; it spoke of the love between husbands and wives. But, underneath all, it spoke of love of country and of mankind. This was a complex book that touched directly upon a number of lives and indirectly upon innumerable lives . This book was impossible to put down!
80 reviews3 followers
February 22, 2017
Ten stars

If I could I would give this book ten stars instead of five. Having read all the Sarah Newby books by this author I decided to try this historical novel which also featured a Sarah. I was not disappointed. The novel is so well-written with characters who steal your heart. The descriptions of prison life for suffragettes is stomach-turning but you can't turn away from them. If you, too, have finished the Newby series and you want more, try this novel. Both Sarahs are strong-willed women who know what they want and will get it at all costs.
Profile Image for Tilden.
603 reviews6 followers
May 7, 2018
3.5 Rating

What made me give this novel less than 4 or 5 is that I did not like Deborah or her husband Charles. I found the scenes with ??? in the prison very compelling and her decision not to eat and submitting to being force fed.

Deborah is the kind of woman who drives me crazy. She floats along in her world and finds out that she doesn't like her life. Why did she marry Charles in the first place? Couldn't she tell he was an asshole before she married him? What also surprised me is that she didn't have a clue that he was a homosexual throughout the entire novel. Didn't James, her lover, tell her it was unusual for a man not to want sex with his wife and her husband might prefer men over women? Or her sister tell her that as well? People weren't that naive, even in those days.

Also, why did Deborah go all the way to Dublin to help the poor, when I am sure there were many poor Catholic people who needed aid in Ulster where she lived. In this novel, you would have thought there were no Catholic Irish who lived in Ulster. And why did she want another child? If it was a boy he would have been shipped off to boarding school. Her son Tom was in boarding school and he was only 8 years old! Why have children when you ship them off as soon as they walk and talk?

I hated the politics of Charles and his superior attitude of rightful privilege. So English. The English forget that the Irish were in Northern Ireland centuries before the English ever invaded. Also, the fact that he raped Werner in boarding school, when Charles was supposed to protect Warner.

My favorite character was Werner. He had the English pegged. Too bad he was so concerned with succeeding in his career that he didn't have sound judgement when it came to his mission. I wanted him to succeed.
Profile Image for June.
404 reviews2 followers
February 26, 2018
Get ready for a roller coaster ride of a book!! Do not be deceived by the beginning which kind of plods along very slowly; this is just setting the stage for a whirlwind tale.
The two sisters could not seemingly be more apart. Deborah living in a beautiful setting in Ireland with husband and child and Sarah living in London with her eminent political husband with no children (3 miscarriages). But when Sarah finds out something so despicable of her husband that she is drawn to do something outlandish the wheels are set in motion.-SPOILERS-
Sarah finds herself in a prison subjected to horrid treatment while she strives to stand by her suffragette beliefs, Deborah is left feeling abandoned by a husband who is more interested in military movements then being a husband so seeks other outlets and the unrest in Ireland increases day by day
Sarah's husband Jonathon believes himself to be a very principled man and yet is a narrow minded prig who in essence abandons his wife. Deborah's husband Charles is in his own private quandry which he can never tell anyone about.
All this is mixed together with people from the past and present who keep the reader avidly reading and the ending......well it was a good one.
Profile Image for Dean McIntyre.
652 reviews3 followers
March 30, 2021
CAT AND MOUSE by Tim Vicary is an exceptionally well-written novel with numerous sub-plots and characters, all skillfully developed so they tell their individual portions of the story all the while interacting to further character and plot development. The major theme is the struggle for the vote and equal rights for women in England and Ireland in the early 20th century. I won't recount the subplots, but it is an engaging read with: strong, opinionated, assertive women; men who oppose their efforts; women thrown into prison for various acts of protest and rebellion; a doctor who force-feeds and poisons women in prison; secretly homosexual husbands; a married suffragette becoming pregnant by other than her homosexual husband; soldiers of various stripes and an impending civil war; a doctor who recruits and kidnaps young girls to serve as prostitutes in his secret establishment, and the husbands and politicians who assault them; and an exciting ending that brings everything to conclusion.
646 reviews4 followers
January 6, 2021
I enjoyed the read, and the story was interesting. I particularly like the background of Northern Ireland and the struggle that split that island because "Love thy neighbor" apparently doesn't apply between Catholics and Protestants. We stayed with a families with people in NI, and then with a woman and her daughter living in NI, and puzzled (with our hosts) about "Catholic" and "Protestant" neighborhoods that survive with mutual hatred to this day (well, that was in 2006, but I doubt it's changed.) The arrogance of the Brit overlords is well portrayed here. The interplay between that arrogance and the arrogance that denied women the vote, repressed and denigrated their efforts to win it. Different times ...but I imagine the disagreements still seethe beneath the surface, and make for fertile ground for a good story.
1,246 reviews
December 11, 2016
Mouse trumps Cat

I received this from the author. From the beginning I felt like I was right next to the characters. Two sisters who each believe the other has a better marriage carry the story. Sarah, a suffragette, and Deborah, a wealthy lady of leisure. Possible war between England and Ireland form the backdrop. Thrown in the mix are spies, a murderer, one husband a closeted homosexual, and the other husband keeps scheduled appointments with prostitutes. This is historical fiction, mystery, and thriller all in one book.
14 reviews
May 11, 2018
Twists and Turns

This was a story filled with intrigue and suspense about two wealthy sisters, one living in the city and one in the country. It takes place in England during the time women were protesting to be allowed to vote, and the start of unrest politically over " home rule" legislation in Ireland. Thus there is an historical basis, but tells more the story of civilians and their lives during these times. I had a hard time putting this book down before the end, and was not let down by the endin
Profile Image for Rhonda Hicks.
4,557 reviews82 followers
May 14, 2019
This is a new author for me and I was intrigued when I read the teaser to be honest. Two sisters, each thinking the grass is greener on the other side until they begin looking closer at the details. An deep and intense story that speaks to varying levels of love; love between sisters, between husband and wife, illicit lovers, homosexual lovers, love of a parent to a child and vice versa, and love of country and mankind in general. Truly an story with characters that will suck you into the story and keep you intrigued throughout.
Profile Image for Nina.
1,842 reviews10 followers
April 7, 2018
While the characters are fictional, the author drew upon the real life stories of suffragettes in England in the early 20th century, and wove that in with a story of the Ulster refusal to accept Irish Home Rule in neighboring Ireland. What the suffragettes had to suffer is horrifying, of course, but the most exciting part of the novel is at the end when the young son of an Ulsterman is kidnapped and the efforts his mother and aunt made to rescue him. I flew through that part!
167 reviews
February 28, 2018
I've not read much about the suffragette movement in the US and nothing at all about its existence in England or Ireland. This book was a wonderful eye opener to women's struggles for equality in the mid 1900's. Very well written and captivating, this story follows two sister's different battles for independence and love. Highly recommend!
Profile Image for Clovis.
4 reviews
March 7, 2018
This is a very enjoyable book with realistic characters. The story is set in Ireland and London in 1914 and seems to give accurate historical detail with regard to the Suffragette movement and the politics leading up to World War I. We also learn about the lives of the "upper crust" of society, and in many ways this book is an eye-opener. I would recommend it.
53 reviews1 follower
March 10, 2018
Excellent story, well told.

Deborah and Sarah are sisters, each with a troubled marriage. Sarah's life disappointment leads her to a criminal act and a dangerous imprisonment. Deborah is less militant, but equally troubled.

An interesting look into pre-WWI England and Ireland from the point of view of two women.

Votes for women!
Profile Image for Richa.
16 reviews24 followers
December 10, 2018
A good historic with a few twists

The story had good pace and the shifting perspectives of the narrative being told from the different characters points of view kept the interest and intrigue going . Made it quite tense towards the end . A little predictable in some places, but still engaging and exciting to read.
Profile Image for Maisie.
345 reviews2 followers
July 26, 2019
A well written historical novel set in the turbulent times of 1914. It intertwines the suffragette movement, the Ulster Volunteer Force and a plot from Germany through the lives of two sisters and their families. Steady paced and brings out the issues of the times both for women's rights and political views. It would appeal to fans of historical novels.
420 reviews1 follower
February 28, 2018
A compelling read

Especially now, around the centenary of the Suffragette movement, I was mesmerised and horrified at the same time. What efforts were made by the women of the day. The setting, against the fermenting 'troubles' in Ireland makes this an unptdownable book.
Profile Image for Karyl Carlson.
Author 3 books5 followers
March 5, 2018
Exciting and informative

I reads this book with great interest. It tied in well with issues I have been thinking about lately-- the rights and responsibilities of women and what it means to give your life to a cause.
Profile Image for kirsten.
28 reviews1 follower
March 9, 2018
Great Book

I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It was a great historical lesson and the characters were compelling. I always give great kudos to these historical fiction writers for all their research and hard work .
21 reviews
March 12, 2018
Great read with strong female characters from a male writer who has deep insights into female psychology and issues. In the 'me too' generation a good book to gain some historical perspective. Definitely full of surprises. Historical crime fiction.
Profile Image for May.
890 reviews110 followers
can-t-finish-it
June 5, 2018
The topics are gritty & worthy of attention. I’m sure that this has been well researched and factually accurate. However, I cannot finish this book. Maybe it is me @ this moment in time. I wanted to like this novel, so maybe I’ll try again another time...
34 reviews
March 6, 2018
Enjoyed the characters. Allows reader a deeper understanding of Irish politics, as well as the long sacrifices leading the passage of women's suffrage.
451 reviews3 followers
March 16, 2018
Good read

I enjoyed the book. I never give much thought to what women had to go through before we were treated as almost equal. Very good story and I could not stop reading.
420 reviews
March 25, 2018
Ulster Rising

Suffragette, Secret war and romance a great story with a little history a d homophobia mixed in. I wont spoil the surprise just read it.
Profile Image for gj indieBRAG.
1,776 reviews94 followers
August 22, 2018
We are proud to announce that CAT & MOUSE by Tim Vicary is a B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree. This tells readers that this book is well worth their time and money!
130 reviews
August 27, 2018
Not exactly a page turner

But I did enjoy it in the end. It was easy to put it down and come back to it sometime later.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews

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