The Fire Cats of London

Product Information

Young wildcats, Asta and Ash, find themselves captured and taken from their home in the forest to an apothecary’s shop in the heart of London in the summer of 1666, when fear and superstition are rife. Asta’s determination to escape, leads them to Miriam, a healer with a soft spot for animals. Treated by the people of London as a witch, no one will listen to Miriam when she tries to warn them that something terrible is about to happen. So when Asta and Ash overhear a dangerous plot to destroy London, they embark on a perilous race against time to clear Miriam’s name before the flames are let loose on the city. Just this week Mrs H sent me 3 new books to read. These are by David Michie, the famed author assistant to the the Dalai Lama’s cat, respectfully announced as HHC (His Holiness’s Cat). I have duly set to reading these fine accounts and can honestly say they are highly amusing, and quite insightful as to Buddhism and how it affects our everyday feline (and human) lives. So, if you can hear Buddhist monks chanting in the palace grounds, you’d be right, as I’ve got them in to improve the soil karma and productivity of the rose beds! Two young wildcats, Asta and Ash, are captured from their home in a beautiful forest and taken to apothecary’s shop in London to be used to create all sorts of medicines and potions and tinctures. It’s the summer of 1666 and superstition is rife with anti Catholic and anti foreign sentiment. Asta is desperate to escape London and return to the wild forest, but she has to fight against a perilous plot that is threatening the city and not just the caged animals within. The Great Fire of London is the most infamous fire in British history. Studied in schools from KS1, you’re probably aware of the devastation it caused to many beautiful buildings and how it changed the city of London forever. However, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Read on for Six things you might not know about the Great Fire of London

The artwork for this story, which appears throughout, is terrific and fun. I think it certainly adds to the whole feel and acts to temper the story for the younger reader.

I am a sensitive reader myself, I admit it. But, I can appreciate that this is an excellent, powerful, well-framed and pitched book that will please readers. I can’t say much more than this, but suffice to say that the story weaves its way skillfully through the events up to and during the Great Fire of London.

Anna Fargher was raised in a creative hub on the Suffolk coast by an artist and a ballet teacher. She read English Literature at Goldsmiths before working in the British art world and opening her own gallery. The Umbrella Mouse is her first book, which she wrote on her iPhone notepad during her daily commute on the London Underground. She splits her time between London and Suffolk where she is often found exploring the coastline and marshlands under the huge East Anglian skies. The Umbrella Mouse was selected for the Waterstones Book of the Month. Any dogs or cats? Lead characters are wonderful wild cats. An antagonist is a British Blue cat. Many other talking creatures play key parts in this story too. Petrified, they are taken by humans and dogs to the vast city of London. Their mother had told them of this place, crawling with humans. It is even worse than they imagined, with foul smells reeking through the air and their grief over their lost mother filling their hearts. When her chance to flee comes with the help of a clever raven, she takes it, only having to face fires deliberately set across London. Ash is still clear in her thoughts as she avoids one danger after another.Courageous animals, human kindness, secret tunnels, the River Thames, ruthless medicine men and roaring flames of the devastating Fire of London, layer the story with one menace after another. How can a wild cat survive? There are plenty out there, and each is just waiting to serve up a treasure of literal magical resource, fun and adventure with a personal touch. Thomas Farriner’s bakery was actually located just off of Pudding Lane in Fish Yard, which is now today’s Monument Street. The descriptions of first the hunters, the apothecary and then a fair that only keeps animals to bet on in fights are authentic and brutal, so this book isn't for the soft hearted. Blurb Step into historic London and follow the fearless acts of two young wildcats caught in the Great Fire, in The Fire Cats of London: a story of daring and courage from bestselling, award-winning author of The Umbrella Mouse, Anna Fargher.

S am Usher graduated from the University of West England and his debut picture book Can You See Sassoon? was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize and the Red House Children’s Book Award. He is particularly admired for his technical drawing skill and prowess with watercolour. Also a talented pianist, when he’s not holding a pen and wobbling at paper you’ll find him perfecting a fiendishly difficult piece of Chopin. So, without further ado, it is our pleasure to present, The Fire Cats of London by the hugely talented Anna Fargher! One of the many joys of this blog, in fact the main joy, is sharing adventures and things that we like and read. When it comes to books, there are so many fine examples out there, it is incredibly hard to choose what to read first. In fact the palace bookshelves are rapidly filling up and I am thinking I may have to comandeer the fridge for Mrs H’s collection of spine tingling chillers, sorry, thrillers! Asta however is a character to cheer for as she does everything to survive and then help other animals. Three brave humans helping free animals from their cages is heartening but frightening too as they are incredible danger every time they try to save an animal. In April 1666, a group of parliamentarians led by John Rathbone and William Saunders were found guilty of trying to assassinate Charles II and setting fire to the city. Their “Hellish design” was planned to take place on the anniversary of Oliver Cromwell’s death, 3 September – a day after the start of the actual Great Fire of London.

How did the Great Fire of London start?

Hmm. We must command the Lord Mayor to pull down all the houses in front of the fire, so it has no fuel to burn, then the fire will die down. Yes. We have given basic plot outline and it is necessary to mention some aspects of the plot. See also my cautionary note at end of this review. But before they could use fire hooks, the people of Pudding Lane needed to ask the Lord Mayor if they were allowed to – and he had to say ‘yes’.

Thomas Farriner and his family climbed out of the window, to the roof, and escaped to the neighbour’s house… all except their maid. In those days when people wrote diaries, instead of using pens they dipped feather tips in ink and wrote with that instead. Famously, only six people are recorded as dying in the fire. The truth is that most of those who died were poor, working, or lower-middle-class making it almost impossible to know how many people actually died. Deaths from the pestilence had already started to ebb, and new infections were declining by September 1666. Townspeople: Fire! Fire! We need to tell somebody about this… I wish someone would invent the telephone. And the fire brigade.Let’s get The Lord Mayor.

Watch: Find out how the fire was put out

She is sold again, this time to something even worse, having to fight for her life every day in a betting ring, surrounded by cruel and merciless humans, both men and women. All she can think about though is returning to free her brother, no matter what he believes about his new life.