Tiger Mu Mu

My friend the composer/songwriter Kevin Dean, who has a special relationship with cats and has written wonderful music in their honour wrote to me earlier this year about a particular cat, Tigger-Mu-Mu, who was much loved, but who sadly died in 2003. I wrote about her in Coach House Cats. But right now this further story from Kevin makes the hairs on the back of you neck stand on end.

Here it is in Kevin's own words:

"I just have to tell you what happened last night. My friend Colin popped round for a glass of wine. Colin originally looked after Tigger Mu Mu before she came to live with me. We were talking about her in depth and as we did, I glanced over to a framed photograph of the profile of her face which was standing on the floor.

In the UK Mothering Sunday is 22nd March. Why not give a mum you know the perfect little hardback? Marilyn will be delighted to sign and dedicate it with a special message.

All you have to do is click into the buy now button to the right.

Marilyn will be signing all four books at The Institute in Kirkby Lonsdale at this year's Christmas Fair from 10am until 5pm on 6th and 7th December, but you can order them signed and dedicated just as easily by clicking into the buy now button to the right.

A facility for you to request a dedication comes up before you finish the checking out procedure.

Debbie Coates, friend and poet, was the patron of a very special cat called Pinch, who was an artist who lived in her grounds in Southern California.

Many of you have been kind enough to email me to ask if there is a new book in the offing.

The answer is yes, a novel about a cat called White Chin who gets dumped in the woods behind the Coach House. It will be for the 11+ age range and I hope to get it out next year.

France Bauduin is illustrating it and this is White Chin himself.

When Peter Warner died of cancer in September 2007 he was survived by a wonderful cat, an Abyssinian, called Blue. The cat Blue used to stand in as model for Peter for the cats that appeared throughout the Moon Cottage books when Peter was unable to have direct access to Fannie, Titus, Pushkin and Gilly.

Don't forget these dates and books make great presents, especially with a personal dedication and your order will be sent first class.

This story began some time ago, but is a wonderful tale of how loving and trusting a less than perfect animal can give back to that animal a quality of life that might be thought quite impossible.

The long awaited paperback featuring book one and book two was published this week and you can order it online at Amazon.

Unfortunately it won't be sold via this website so if you do order it with Amazon I won't be able to dedicate or sign as I would normally if you ordered from here.

Peter Warner, the superb illustrator of what he always called The Moon Cottage Cat books, died early this morning following a short illness, which he faced with great courage.

Peter was a man who embraced life with total relish and lived it with brio and both music and art coursed through his blood stream.

Those of us left behind are much the poorer for no longer having this vivacious man who knew how to live among us. See his own entry under The Illustrator in the menu.