Two Books for Reading the Meow 2025

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly (2011) 

(audiobook narrated by Cassandra Campbell)

Kathleen Paulson left Boston after a romance-gone-bad and accepted a job in Mayville Heights, MN as a head librarian supervising a big renovation. She has made friends, acquired two kittens, Owen and Hercules, but the construction at the library is not going as well as she had hoped. One morning she goes to get advice from a friendly carpenter at the Stratton Theater but, instead, finds a dead body – Gregor Easton, the visiting conductor of the town’s forthcoming music festival. Kathleen is an immediate suspect: what was she doing there? perhaps she was having an affair with the much-disliked maestro.

The investigating detective is very attractive but, as you know, looks aren’t everything:

He had a nice smile. Not that it made any difference to me. He wasn’t my type. He didn’t have a library card, I’d noticed. The man had never borrowed a single library book, as far as I could tell.

Does Detective Gordon believe Kathleen is a murderer? The victim did have a note in his pocket summoning him to a rendezvous at the library at 11:30 pm, signed by Kathleen, and they had argued the evening before. Luckily, the two feral kittens who adopted Kathleen have some magical abilities and their loyalty will prove essential when she is threatened.

I am not usually a fan of cozy mysteries but who could resist a librarian from Boston (check), who likes Minnesota (check), kittens (check), and muffins (check)? I’m not alone, apparently; there are 16 books in this series!

Gobbolino the Witch's Cat by Ursula Moray Williams (1942)

Whoever heard of a witch’s cat with bright blue eyes and one white paw? This children’s book introduces two kittens, Gobbolino and his sister Sootica, offspring of a witch’s cat. Sootica is proud of her heritage and looks forward to becoming a witch’s cat herself, learning magic and riding a broomstick, but Gobbolino wants a quiet life with a family:

“Don’t you want to be bad?” Sootica asked him in great surprise.

“No,” said Gobbolino, “I want to be good and have people love me. People don’t love witches’ cats. They are too disagreeable.”

My tender-hearted nieces would not have enjoyed this story as Gobbolino’s mother and her mistress, the witch, are disgusted by his attitude and abandon him. He cries bitterly and spends most of the book trying to find a home, but every time he makes friends and is taken in somewhere, someone identifies him as a witch’s cat and he is cast out into the world again. Even his twin is contemptuous of his weakness and, really, he never stops crying until he finally secures a forever home. Gobbolino is sweet and does have some good adventures – as part of the Lord Mayor’s home, at a cat show, temporarily adopted by sailors, taken in by a lonely princess, hiding in a Punch & Judy show, and more – but I did wish he had a bit more gumption.

Williams (1911–2006) was a prolific English author and illustrator, best known for Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse. I knew her name and was vaguely aware that she was known for brave characters who persevered through difficulties. However, I had never actually come across any of her books until I found this paperback at a library book sale recently. A pity my edition does not have the foreword by Joan Aiken! 

Kaye Webb was the legendary editor of Puffin Books between 1961 and 1979, and in 1967 founded the Puffin Club, which she ran until 1981, publishing many noteworthy authors. Williams and Webb apparently became good friends after she published Gobbolino and Williams attended some of the Puffin Club in person events, which must have thrilled her readers. As a child, I would occasionally come across a Puffin paperback in Boston with back matter mentioning books not available at my library like The Fair to Middling, Stig of the Dump (admittedly, when I finally got copies, I was disappointed) and The Minnow on the Say. It drove me crazy, knowing these books were on the other side of the Atlantic with no way to get them!

#ReadingtheMeow2025 is a week celebrating cats and books from June 9-15, 2025, hosted by Mallika at Literary Potpouri. Anyone interested is invited to read as many or as few books as they like featuring cats in them, in significant or at least reasonable roles.