5 minutes with…

THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF Eats, Shoots & Leaves AND Cat Out of Hell HAS WRITTEN HER SECOND NOVEL ABOUT THE EVIL TALKING CATS, The Lunar Cats (CENTURY).

YOUR NEW NOVEL IN A NUTSHELL? A RETIRED LIBRARIAN, ALEC, WHO HAS ALREADY ENDURED AN EXPOSURE TO EVIL TALKING CATS, FINDS HIMSELF CAUGHT UP IN ANOTHER MYSTERY WITH THEM.

HOW DID YOU DREAM UP THE EVIL TALKING CATS? I THINK ALL CATS, IF YOU LOOK AT THEM, ARE PROBABLY EVIL ALTHOUGH THEY DON’T ALL TALK. HOWEVER THERE ARE LOTS OF TALKING CATS IN LITERATURE, MY FAVOURITE BEING SAKI’S TOBERMORY, WHO’S GIVEN THE POWER OF SPEECH, BUT IT’S HORRIFYING BECAUSE HE KNOWS EVERYTHING AND HE

HAS NO COMPUNCTION ABOUT EXPOSING EVERYONE’S WORST SECRETS. THAT WAS IN THE BACK OF MY MIND.

ARE YOU A CAT LOVER OR HATER? I HAD LOVELY CATS FOR 20 YEARS BUT I WAS NEVER UNDER ANY ILLUSION ABOUT THEM. I WAS VERY AWARE THEY WERE SELF-CENTRED AND HEARTLESS BUT I STILL LOVED THEM. THEN I GOT SOME RESCUE CATS,

BILL AND DAISY, BUT THEY JUST STARED AT ME IN A DISTRUSTING WAY. WHEN I GOT HOAGY, MY NORFOLK TERRIER, I WAS VERY HAPPY TO LET THE CATS GO TO ANOTHER HOME.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO WRITE? MY ULTIMATE INDULGENCE WAS TO HAVE A GARDEN OFFICE BUILT. IT’S QUIETER THAN IN MY HOUSE AND I CAN LOOK OUT AND SEE PRETTINESS.

WHEN YOU’RE NOT WRITING, WHAT DO YOU ENJOY? I’VE STARTED DRAWING AND PAINTING RECENTLY. I GET THE SAME PLEASURE FROM IT AS I DO

FROM WRITING.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? I HAVE THIS VISION OF ME IN THE SHED JUST WRITING A BOOK A YEAR, DOGS AT THE FEET, CUP OF TEA GOING COLD. I HAVE LOW EXPECTATIONS IN LIFE AND THAT TO ME WOULD BE BLISS.

ANY MORE TALKING CATS? I HOPE SO. I’VE LEFT THE END OF THE LUNAR CATS WIDE OPEN SO I CAN WRITE MORE.