PETS

Great Writers and the Cats Who Owned Them

Susannah Fullerton

Bodleian Library, $34.99

“One cat just leads to another,” said Ernest Hemingway, who at one time lived with more than 50 cats. He is one of the many great writers whose lives, works and cats are vividly chronicled here. Susannah Fullerton takes readers on a rich voyage across time, from a 9th-century Irish monastery all the way to Donaldson’s dairy in New Zealand in the 21st. Each of the 17 chapters is named for a cat who “condescended” to live with an author. The research is vast and fully documented, and the writers, as well as their cats, leap from the pages of this fascinating and entertaining book.

Astonishing insights into the minds and hearts of the writers abound. When Charles Dickens’ beloved cat Bob died, the

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