The Catalogue of the Universe employs a contemporary urban setting, probably in New Zealand, although specific references to the particular characteristics of New Zealand life are never particularly insistent. Tycho's family lives in the city; Angela's father Roland Chase has his home, office, and warehouse in the city; and it is in the city where Angela goes off to get drunk after her disappointing and humiliating encounter with her father. It is a city like most others in the world, with its mix of schools and shops, bridges and warehouses, traffic and bustle.

Mahy sets the city in striking contrast to the site of Angela's home, which is at the very top of a hill. Her isolated and rather primitive home is linked to the world below by Dry Creek Road, an important image in the novel. The road is treacherous. It winds sharply and steeply up the...