Cat's Magic, by Margaret Greaves, for Timeslip Tuesday

I'm working my way, as finances allow, through all the time travel books of the twentieth century, and although Cat's Magic, by Margaret Greaves (1980), is free on open library, I like reading physical copies much better.  And this is a book I'm happy to have added to my collection, even though it isn't one that I loved deeply.

Louise is an orphan, and the money set aside by her mother to keep her at boarding school has run out.  Now she must go stay with an aunt in the middle of the English countryside, in a somewhat dilapidated farm house.  I would like this, but Louise does not, and she is keenly aware that Aunt Hester is not thrilled about it either.  Aunt Hester expects Louise to pull her weight, but Louise has no desire to pull anything, and no desire to read the works of Sir Walter Scott as Aunt Hester suggests, but prefers the escapist fluff for girls she has to keep hidden in her room lest Aunt Hester throws it away.

But all is not terrible.  A friendly village boy, Charlie, teaches her how to ride a bicycle, which Aunt Hester has dragged out of one of the barns, and although we don't get a lot of fun rural expeditions (which I rather like), it was a bright spot in her life.  More importantly, though, she rescues a kitten slated to be drowned.  And miraculously Aunt Hester lets her keep little Casca.

Even more miraculously, the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bast, appears in her room that night to reward her for her cat kindness.  She offers Louise a boon, and Louise impulsively says that she'd just rather be anywhere else.  So she gets the gift of being able to travel anywhere she wants.  Bast is good at place, but being an immortal goddess is more than a bit loose with regards to time.  When Louise asks to be sent to Egypt, she ends up in ancient times, where Casca, who's travelled with her, gets a good chunk of worshiping and Louise has a slightly hungry, but interesting, visit to the past.

At this point I was thinking it was just going to be episodic time travel, but I was pleased that this was not the case.  Her next jaunt takes her to a Victorian seaside town, where she befriends another orphan, who serves as an unpaid drudge at her (much more unpleasant) aunt's boarding house.  It is a miserable situation, and Louise decides to rescue her from the villainous aunt, and takes her back to the present.  

There is more back and for between this past and the present before everyone gets happily settled, and it was rather good reading.  Aunt Hester and Louise gradually warm to each other, which was nice.  And though the author doesn't give deep consideration to culture shock and bureaucratic challenges, there's plenty of detail and cozy found-family-ness.  So though it didn't hit hard emotionally (mostly because it stayed on the surface level of things), I enjoyed it.  (Casca the cat played a very small role, so don't expect much kitten cuteness if you do pick this up.  But if miserable Victorian orphans are your jam, there's pleanty of that).