EDWARD LEAR AND THE PUSSYCAT

Sub-titled 'Famous Writers and Their Pets', behind every great writer there is a beloved pet, providing inspiration in life and death, and companionship during what can often be a lonely working existence. They may also offer personal protection against angry rivals or critics, although a few may eat first drafts or bite visitors. Taking an alphabetical walk through a fascinating range of anecdotes, from Beatrix's Rabbit to Zola's Pomeranian, along with Edward Lear's half-tailed tabby Foss who developed a taste for chewing the author's letters, we also read about Elizabeth Barret Browning's spaniel Flush, who was the victim of several dognappings and became the unlikely subject of a biography by Virginia Woolf. We meet Charles Dickens's pet raven Grip, who inspired Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem 'The Raven', and Dante Gabriel Rossetti's wombat Top, who was allowed to snooze at the dinner table. Lord Byron erected a large marble monument in memory of his Newfoundland, Boatswain, and Agatha Christie dedicated her novel Dumb Witness to her favourite dog, Peter - the ultimate tribute. A smart British Library publication, 160pp, paperback, illus.