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Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Inside Henry Cato by Katharine English opens in present-day Manhattan, where a silver-haired man in a bespoke suit, Henry Cato, listens to the city’s footsteps from his studio, believing that his success story began in darkness. The story flashes back to 1960s rural Kansas, where young Henry must endure the punishments meted out to him by his fanatically religious mother: nights locked in a root cellar among rotting potatoes and mice. It is then that he discovers a secret passion for beautiful shoes, which for him are sensual and erotic, intimate, and inherently aesthetic. Thus begins his first act of self-invention and rebellion. At sixteen, a scandal prompts him to run away, hitchhiking from a Kansas commune to the Summer of Love in San Francisco, with its gallery intrigues and Grateful Dead concerts. Then he moves to the Meatpacking District of New York, where he explores an underground nightclub. He is misled and guided by a vivid cast while he seeks something more elusive than freedom: the permission to exist as himself.
Katharine English fills this enthralling odyssey with complex characters: Trixie, the trans matriarch whose hard-won wisdom anchors the story’s found family; Perry, Henry's big-hearted best friend, whose own path through Vietnam redefines courage; and Mother herself, whose cruelty conceals devastating secrets. The biggest mystery of this story is about what broke Ida Cato, and it simmers beneath the episodic plot, building suspense and delivering a satisfying payoff. The storytelling is confessional and intimate, and Henry's first-person narration blends humor with lyricism, while diary entries and letters expand the plot and deepen the mystery. Inside Henry Cato treats sexuality, trauma, and gender fluidity without any sensationalism. The emotional honesty wins in this well-paced story, which is partly confession and partly picaresque adventure.
