About the Author

Antonia Barber is an award-winning writer of children’s and adult fiction, including her bestselling picture book Catkin, illustrated by P. J. Lynch, and her adult novels, The Ghosts and The Ring in the Rough Stuff, both of which were shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Antonia divides her time between a converted oast house in Kent and a cosy harbourside cottage in the real Cornish village of Mousehole.

Nicola Bayley, once shortlisted and twice commended for the Kate Greenaway medal, is perhaps best known for her loving, detailed depictions of cats, and has captured the hearts of her readers in titles such as The Necessary Cat, The Patchwork Cat, The Mousehole Cat, Katje the Windmill Cat and Rudyard Kipling’s classic, The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story. Nicola lives in London.

Reviews

One of the best children's books I have read for years.
*Sunday Independent*

Quite perfect.
*Eastern Daily Press*

In lilting and alliterative language, Barber tells the story of Mowzer the cat who saves a Cornish fishing village from starvation at Christmas. The Great Storm-Cat rages outside the snug little harbor and no boats can leave, so Mowzer agrees to accompany her own pet, the human fisherman old Tom, on a fishing venture ``for he was only a man. . . and men were like mice in the paws of the Great Storm-Cat.'' The story is cleverly told from the cat's point of view, with the oceanic Storm-Cat personified both in the text and in the blue-green swirls of Bayley's luminous paintings, which capture nuance, detail, motion, and emotion with energy and rhythm. Narrow bars decorated with sea motifs neatly frame the text in this elegant offering.

One of the best children's books I have read for years. * Sunday Independent *
Quite perfect. * Eastern Daily Press *