Cat
Posted on 31 January 2009 by Freya North
Though this was my 4th novel, it was this book that really drummed home to me that I WAS AN AUTHOR. I had long been a fan of the Tour de France – from the comfort of my sofa…and now, my writing credentials enabled me to bag an access-all-areas pass. Bizarrely, life imitated art rather than vice versa – and I followed in Cat’s footsteps, spending my time on the Tour masquerading as a journalist, writing for the Times, for radio and for cycling magazines. The first Tour I went on was 1998 – which was the one with all the huge drug scandals. It was won by the inimitable Marco Pantani – who later died from a drugs overdose. The next Tour was won by Lance Armstrong. Many of the real riders, all of whom were very kind and welcoming, traded anecdotes or rides in their team cars for a cameo appearance in the book!
July 27th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I first read Cat when it was first published in paperback – and last week, during the Tour de France, I came across a copy in a charity shop & devoured it all over again. As a cycling fan (Mark Cavendish is “my boy” the way Luca Jones is Cat’s), it’s a wonderful insight into the peloton – but funny & sexy in ways Will Fotheringham would never manage!