Skip to product information
1 of 1

Goldsboro Books

Cat and Mouse

Cat and Mouse

Cat and Mouse

by Günter Grass

Publisher Secker & Warburg

Genre: Historical Fiction and Rare & Collectible

Released:


Regular price £125.00
Regular price Sale price £125.00
Sale Sold out
Rendering loop-subscriptions
Rendering loop-subscriptions

Available from:

Limited Edition Copies

View full details
  • Professionally Packed

    All of our books that have a dust wrapper are covered in clear protective, removable film and are packed professionally in bubble wrap and a box for shipping so that they reach you in perfect condition.

  • Book Condition & Notes

    Very good first edition in dust-jacket. Some foxing and yellowing to pages and jacket, with minor tears to the jacket. This book is located in our Brighton store, and may take longer for delivery.

About the book

To compensate for his unusually large Adam's apple - source of both discomfort and distress - fourteen year old Joachim Mahlke turns himself into athlete and ace diver. Soon he is known to his peers and his nation as 'The Great Mahlke'.

But to his enemies, he remains a target. He is different and doomed in a country scarred by the war.

Cat and Mouse was first published in 1961, two years after Gunter Grass' controversial and applauded masterpiece, The Tin Drum.

Once again Grass turns his attention on Danzig. With a subtle blend of humour and power, Cat and Mouse ostensibly relates the rise of Mahlke from clown to hero. But Mahlke's outlandish antics hide the darkness at the heart of a nation torn by Nazi violence, the war and its aftermath.

Collapsible content

About the Author

Günter Grass

Günter Grass was a German-Kashubian novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.


Trained as a stonemason and sculptor, Grass began writing in the 1950s. In his fiction, he frequently returned to his birthplace of Danzig.


Grass is best known for his first novel, The Tin Drum, a key text in European magic realism. It was the first book of his Danzig Trilogy, the other two being Cat and Mouse and Dog Years. His works are frequently considered to have a left-wing political dimension, and Grass was an active supporter of the Social Democratic Part of Germany. The Tin Drum was adapted as a film of the same name, which won both the 1979 Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. In 1999, the Swedish Academy awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature, praising him as a writer "whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history".

  • What makes a book ‘book club worthy? How we choose our special editions.

    What makes a book ‘book club worthy? How we cho...

    David Headley

    If you know Goldsboro, then you’ll likely know about our popular book clubs: Crime Collective for crime and thriller fans, GSFF for Sci-Fi and fantasy enthusiasts and PREM1ER - a...

    David Headley

    What makes a book ‘book club worthy? How we cho...

    If you know Goldsboro, then you’ll likely know about our popular book clubs: Crime Collective for crime and thriller fans, GSFF for Sci-Fi and fantasy enthusiasts and PREM1ER - a...

  • 5 Unmissable Debut Novels Coming in Early 2025

    5 Unmissable Debut Novels Coming in Early 2025

    David Headley

    With 2025 already promising to be an incredible year for publishing, we asked our booksellers at our London and Brighton bookshops which debut novels they’re most excited about in early...

    David Headley

    5 Unmissable Debut Novels Coming in Early 2025

    With 2025 already promising to be an incredible year for publishing, we asked our booksellers at our London and Brighton bookshops which debut novels they’re most excited about in early...

  • 3 Tips For Squeezing More Reading Time Into 2025

    3 Tips For Squeezing More Reading Time Into 2025

    David Headley

    Determined to read more books this year, but struggling to see where you’ll find the time? You’re certainly not alone! But worry not - our booksellers share their favourite tips...

    David Headley

    3 Tips For Squeezing More Reading Time Into 2025

    Determined to read more books this year, but struggling to see where you’ll find the time? You’re certainly not alone! But worry not - our booksellers share their favourite tips...

  • 10 Must-Read Books Released This January

    10 Must-Read Books Released This January

    David Headley

    Ready to kick off the new year with some of the most unmissable new releases of 2025?We asked our booksellers to share which titles they’re most looking forward to reading...

    David Headley

    10 Must-Read Books Released This January

    Ready to kick off the new year with some of the most unmissable new releases of 2025?We asked our booksellers to share which titles they’re most looking forward to reading...

1 of 4