The Abandoned (published in the UK as Jennie) was published by Alfred A. Knopf in New York in 1950. It is Gallico’s most beloved novel among animal lovers and one of the most accurate fictional depictions of cat behavior ever written — Gallico, who lived with cats his entire life, embedded genuine feline ethology within a fantasy narrative.
Peter Brown is eight years old, hit by a truck in a London street, and — in the space between consciousness and unconsciousness — transformed into a white cat. Abandoned and terrified, he is found by Jennie Baldrin, a thin, scarred, experienced tabby who has lived wild in London’s docks, warehouses, and alleys since being abandoned by her own humans as a kitten.
Jennie teaches Peter everything a cat needs to know: how to wash (in correct sequence — face first, then ears, then body), how to hunt (the stalk, the wait, the spring), how to fight (when to bluff and when to retreat), how to communicate with other cats (through posture, scent, ear position, tail carriage), and how to survive in a world that is largely hostile to strays. Each lesson is narrated with such precision that readers have used the book as an actual guide to understanding cat behavior.
But the novel is not merely educational: it is a love story. Jennie loves Peter — not romantically (they are cats) but with the fierce protectiveness of someone who has been abandoned and recognizes abandonment in another. Her devotion gives the novel its emotional engine, and its ending — when Peter must return to human life, leaving Jennie alone — achieves a grief that catches adult readers entirely off guard.
Collecting The Abandoned
First edition (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1950): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
First UK edition (Michael Joseph, London, 1950; as Jennie): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- Knopf first edition in dust jacket: $40–$100
- Michael Joseph first UK edition: $30–$75
- Signed first edition: $75–$200
- Without jacket: $8–$15
One of the great cat books — alongside Doreen Tovey’s memoirs and Paul Corey’s cat novels — and a perennial favorite of animal lovers. Values are driven by a dedicated collector community.