Heather Hacking

This was simply gorgeous! A light and very clever read, with amazingly detailed (and very funny) illustrations.

We meet Mousey Tung, Clawdius, Christofur Columpuss, Miaowpatra, Queen Elizapuss I, Richard the Furred, Whisker Wilde, Samual Squeeks (the diarist), Purrlock Holmes and many other famous people (um, I mean cats) and learn of the stories that have never before been told.

Here is the story of Ratsputin:

This tall imposing cat cast a long black shadow over a troubled Russia at the turn of the century. He wore the robes of an obscure holy order and possessed a devastatingly hypnotic stare. He was known as the 'Mad Mink'.
At the time, Russia was ruled by the Czar. Ratsputin soon came to have a powerful hold over the Royal Family, because the Czar's wife hated rats with a passion and the Winter Palace was teeming with them. No-one seemed to be able to reduce the rat population - except Ratsputin. He invented a clever device called 'cats' eyes' - the reflective glass dots that mark the middle of the road at night. He placed the cats' eyes in a row along the road from St Petersburg town square to the river. Then he signposted this route "to Oleg's - the best cheeseburgers in town". In this way, coachloads of undesirable rodents were disposed of in record time. However, when Ratsputin was strolling on the frozen lake, rat frogmen armed with a hacksaw had their revenge.

I never knew that!… (meer)