Bobcat: A Novel

In her debut novel, "The Bobcat," Katherine Forbes Riley explores the themes of art, science, and human chemistry through the story of Laurelie, a young art student who suffers from isolation and fear after a sexual assault. She transfers to a small college in rural Vermont, where she meets a reclusive hiker who is drawn to her like a bobcat to its prey. As Laurelie heals and reconnects, she also finds her voice as an artist and a sense of purpose, but when a child goes missing in the woods, the delicate balance she has created is threatened.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2021
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing

With the hypnotic intensity of Emily Fridlund's The History of Wolves and Fiona McFarlane's The Night Guest, Katherine Forbes Riley has crafted a mesmerizing love story, in lush, gorgeous prose, that delves into the realms of art, science, and the enchanting magic of human chemistry. Teeming with vivid imagery and mystical settings, and brimming with alluring magical realism, Riley's tale is a beguiling journey of discovery and recovery.

Haunting and lyrical, The Bobcat is Katherine Forbes Riley's magical debut novel in which Laurelie, a young art student who suffers in the aftermath of a sexual assault, has grown progressively more isolated and fearful. She transfers from her bustling city university to a small college in rural Vermont, where she retreats into her vivid imagination, experiencing the world through her art. Most comfortable in the company of the child for whom she babysits, and most at ease in the woods, Laurelie has shunned any connection with her peers.

One day, while exploring the woods, she and her young charge encounter an injured pregnant bobcat – and the hiker who has been following it for hundreds of miles. In the hiker and his feline companion, Laurelie recognizes someone as reclusive and wary as herself. The hiker, too, finds human companionship painful to endure, yet he is drawn to wounded Laurelie, the way he is drawn to the bobcat. As Laurelie moves toward recovery and reconnection, she also finds her voice as an artist, and a sense of purpose, maybe even a future, comes into sight.

Then, the child goes missing in the woods, threatening the bobcat, the hiker, and the fragile peace Laurelie has constructed.

Weight: 252g
Dimension: 140 x 208 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781950691487