One-Eyed Cat

A Single Shot

Ned fired the forbidden rifle just once, at a flickering shadow in the autumn moonlight. But someone — a face, fleetingly seen staring at him from an attic window — was watching.

And when a one-eyed cat turns up at an elderly neighbor's woodshed, Ned is caught in a web of guilt, fear, and shame that he cannot escape — until another moonlit night, come spring, brings redemption and surprising revelations.

Publishers Weekly

A lonely boy's acquaintance with an artist helps him to define and improve his own self-image in this finely crafted story. Ages 11-13. (October)

After surviving a chaotic childhood in the U.S. and Cuba and giving up her own daughter for adoption at age 20, Paula Fox went on to pen award-winning children's books and a series of acclaimed novels. Today, she is enjoying a kind of literary renaissance as her work is hailed by contemporary writers including Jonathan Franzen.