I picked this book up cheaply at a second hand store on the premise that it was an animal based 'true' story - the sort of thing I like to read when not reading fantasy or crime novels and I suppose I'd liken the style of this book to Derek Tangye's work. It's pretty short at just 160 page so should make a nice quick read for most people.

Not sure what I think about this one if I'm honest - it was quite a sweet story and fairly well written, it also didn't read as a book from the 70's despite being written in 1977, this was probably because technology wasn't massively referenced throughout so there wasn't much to date it.

What confused me was that this book is called 'The coming of Saska' - but Saska the cat doesn't even come into the book until the last quarter. It seems to me like the author wrote a book about a particular section of her life, then wondered what the hell to call it and settled on a title from the last part she had written about. I can't really say it distracted from the quality of the book as it were, but I did find it abnormaly irritating.

The other thing that annoyed me a bit was the authors reaction to her cats and how her Siamese cats always had to be 'perfect' ok so she did get Saska in the end and he has a bent tail, but her first reaction was not to want him because essentially he was damaged goods - I hate that kind of mentality when it comes to pets, probably why I always seem to be adopting the animals no one else wants. Cats also seem like a strange pet for her to have given their independant natures and her need to essentially know where they are at all times - I can't help but feel she'd have been better suited to a couple of small pedigree dogs in that sense.

All in all it was quite a cute and quaint story though and I particularly liked the part about their time in Canada - it made me want to go and see the wildlife there myself, I only hope it hasn't changed that much in 35 years. The style of writing was simple and approachable if not a real page turner.

*Much of this review also appears on my goodreads account*