The Writer's Cats E-Book

Muriel Barbery

• Herausgeber: Pushkin Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 24

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

An entertaining and gorgeously illustrated portrait of a writer's life avec chats from the acclaimed author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog - and her four cats.Like so many writers, Muriel Barbery is a lover of cats. Grey-furred and amber-eyed (matching her home décor), Barbery's four Chartreux cats keep her company as she works from her house in the French countryside, entertaining her with their quirks and foibles, inspiring her with their beauty, and soothing her nerves.But that's not all. For Kirin, Ocha, Mizu and Petrus - named after the writer's love of all things Japanese, and, in true French style, of good wine - are no ordinary felines. These intelligent creatures have taken it upon themselves to guide their owner's writing - flicking aside sections of her manuscript with a disdainful tail, pointing an approving paw at others. And it's time these put-upon literary consultants got the recognition they deserve.With delicious wit and irony, the international bestselling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog gives an insight into her writing life - and the paws behind the pen. Accompanied by delightful illustrations by Maria Guitart, The Writer's Cats is the perfect gift for cat lovers and book lovers everywhere.

Leseprobe

The Writer’s Cats

The Writer’s Cats

Muriel Barbery

Illustrated by Maria Guitart

Translated from the French by Alison Anderson

Pushkin Press

A Gallic Book

First published in France as Les chats de l’écrivaineby Éditions de l’Observatoire

Copyright © Éditions de l’Observatoire/Humensis 2020

Illustrations © 2020, Maria Guitart

Artistic Direction, Studio Humensis

English translation copyright © Europa Editions, 2021

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Gallic Books

12 Eccleston Street, London, SW1W 9LT

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention

No reproduction without permission

All rights reserved

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781805333753

Typeset in Milo serif pro by Gallic Books

Printed in the UK by CPI (CR0 4YY)

To my PepitoTo Karole Armitage

To my familyTo Matilda and Aleix, stay wild and keep on smiling

Contents

The Writer’s Cats

First of all, let me make one thing clear: we like our writer. She’s kind. She never forgets our mealtimes. She doesn’t scream when she sees a dead mouse. She throws bottle corks to us (our favourite game at aperitif hour) while she’s drinking wine (which is not infrequently). She takes us to the vet the minute we fart out of tune. We really do like her.

But enough is enough.

I’ll come straight out with it: without us, our writer would not be the writer she is. I don’t know if she’d be worse or better, but she’d be different, that’s all. Why? Because even if we can’t speak, we are outstanding literary advisors.

‘How can a cat claim to be a literary advisor?’ you might wonder (and rightly so). I shall explain.

But first allow me to introduce our tribe. We are four Chartreux cats, which means we have grey fur and orange eyes. When our writer’s best friend saw us for the first time, he said, ‘They go nicely with the walls.’

We live in a house in the country, with taupe-grey walls, brown sofas and orange cushions. At one end of the house there’s the writer’s study, at the other is her husband’s music studio. From time to time, the two of them meet in the middle, in other words in the kitchen, where the cupboards are grey and the tea towels orange.