Just So Stories

New South Books

Bodleian Library

October 2025

9781851246540

AUD$34.99, NZD$39.99

Oh yes, when you pick up a book that is beautifully bound and feels like a gift in your hands (even with a marker ribbon!) you can pretty much guarantee that you are going to love the contents. After all, it is already screaming quality.

All true for this gorgeous volume from Sydney-sider, Susannah Fullerton. I had not read any of the author’s other books but I loved this one from the first page, so I expect I will be seeking out others [you know, when I take a break from the review books of which there are about 70 at present].

Famous writers and cats – and word play. It really doesn’t get much better than that. I read this over about four nights. While it is only around 250 pages, the text is quite small so there’s a lot packed in here. But it is precisely the kind of book that you can also dip in and out of, as the moment takes you.

Each chapter deals with a different author and their cat, or in several cases, cats plural. Beginning with Dr Samuel Johnson in the 1700s and Hodge, the lucky beast that had fresh oysters bought for his delectation and moving through eras with mention of such notables as: Alexandre Dumas, Mark Twain (a very famous ailurophile), L. M. Montgomery, Paul Gallico and our own [well, close enough] Dame Lynley Dodd to name just a few of my favourites. The chapters, as you would guess, also contain excerpts of the writers’ works and references to their cats that were put into that writing.

In between each completely fascinating insight into each of the writers/cats relationship, is a short stand-alone piece cleverly called Paws for Thought [you begin to see why this book particularly appeals to me] and, ahead of all, the foreword outlines references to many other cats and their attendant authors, the naming of literary cats, their role in history, society and in story.

It is a glorious festival of felines in which all cat lovers will revel, as happily as a puss rolling in a bed of catnip. There were surprises in store for me as well. I had never pictured Hemingway as a cat person although, in my defence, I’ve never delved too deeply into his personal history either. Neither had I ever associated Sir Winston Churchill with a cat or cats – possibly because in my brain there is an association with the British bulldog there.

The acquisition of this new knowledge, albeit not the kind of thing I can drop into conversation casually or even store up for some trivia competition, is not much advantage to me, just purely interesting and revelatory. And, after all, isn’t that what learning should be about essentially? A purely intrinsically rewarding journey.

Each chapter is introduced in a patterned format which is a clever summary of the human involved. Throughout there are also some quite charming line drawings of various cats. There is also extensive back matter with notes and an index.

WOOSKIT

who morphed into Slinky Malinki for Dame Lynley Dodd.

Wooskit condescended to live with Dame Lynley Dogg, children’s book author and illustrator, born in Rotorua, New Zealand, in 1941, currently living in Tauranga, New Zealand.

If you are interested in some personal insight into selected famous writers, I would suggest that you would enjoy this immensely. If you are also a cat person and like a little wordplay plus some clever writing, then you will love it. I am all of that, and purringly give it a 5 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛ rating [it had to be the black cat emoji for Whiskers aka the Demon Spawn] intended for adults, but obviously if you had a young person of eclectic taste [I can think of several former year 6 students who would enjoy it] it would also be quite appropriate.