The Taming of the Cat

This beguiling story offers double value with its author also providing numerous eye-catching black and white illustrations, the Covid lockdown apparently allowing her the extra time to keep adding.  A consummate prize-winning artist, her skimpy line drawings still bring out a whole range of different emotions. The mice that populate this story vary between evil and benign, and there is never any doubt which is which. Gorgonzola the cat, who also plays a leading part, can look terrifying at one moment and much against her normal behaviour almost benign at another.  Cooper also comes up with numbers of full page atmospheric drawings, packed with detail and ideal for repeated inspection.

The basic plot is in full Scheherazade mode, with main character Brie lonely and unpopular with his fellow mice all living in a cheese shop. Once caught he postpones his imminent death by telling his feline captor a long story over successive evenings. This features a princess and her enchanted mother, a magic egg, a magpie and – of particular interest to the increasingly attentive and frequently interrupting Gorgonzola –   a brave and resourceful cat named Silk. But while Brie manages to preserve his life against the odds he still faces problems when he is grudgingly allowed back into his home community.

It all ends happily enough, along with a quietly concealed message on the importance of toleration. Two Queens meanwhile from different kingdoms end up marrying each other in order to bring lasting peace. The author writes that ‘a great deal of cheese was sacrificed during the making of this book.’ Minor characters, ranging from Pawlet to Scamorza, are all named after different varieties of this favourite product, each one listed at the end of this utterly delightful book.