On Cats: An Anthology

‘I was a cat-deprived young child,’ writes Margaret Atwood in the introduction to this absorbing new anthology which features some of the most affectionate and funny (sometimes melancholy, often frivolous) writing about our favourite feline friends. ‘I longed for a kitten, but was denied one. I bided my time.’ Here you will find Sigmund Freud considering his cat the embodiment of true egoism; Hilaire Belloc finding peace in his feline companion’s complacency; Doris Lessing admitting that her Princess is beautiful ‘but, there is no glossing it, she’s a selfish beast’; Edward Gorey unable turn down a stray; Muriel Spark giving practical advice on how to teach a cat to play ping-pong; the Pulitzer-Prize winning Alice Walker wondering if she is mature enough for a four-legged companion; Caitlin Moran on the unexpected feelings of loss after the death of her family cat, and many more. Includes six stirringly rich contemporary images by celebrated photographer Elliot Ross, whose work on animals has been described as ‘a confrontation with the fundamental questions of existence.’ Book