A Purr-fectly Literary Tea Towel
Paws, Prose, and Practical Charm
Celebrate your love of literature and feline finesse with this beautifully designed tea towel, the ideal companion to Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them.
Whether you’re drying your teacups or adorning your kitchen with character, this charming piece is more than a household item — it’s a conversation starter, a tribute to literary legends, and a whisker-twitching delight for book and cat lovers alike.
Dry the dishes, delight your guests, and dip into the world of whiskers and words!
Shipping will be added at checkout, or see OFFER below.
Just (AU) $25.00
Printed on high-quality, absorbent cotton/linen blend, this generously sized tea towel (70cm x 50cm) is both stylish and sturdy — perfect for polishing your best china or framing for your study wall.
Whether you’re pairing it with the book or purchasing it as a standalone treat, this tea towel offers a little literary magic with every dish dried. After all, great writers may pen the prose, but their cats often steal the spotlight.
Adorned with delightful illustrations and witty quotes, this tea towel pays homage to some of the greatest minds in literary history — all of whom shared their lives (and often their desks) with cats. From the brooding brilliance of Ernest Hemingway and his many moggies to Colette’s sleek Chartreux and Mark Twain’s tabbies, each corner of this useful creation celebrates the cats who inspired, distracted, and comforted their celebrated owners. It makes a thoughtful gift for bibliophiles, cat devotees, or anyone who appreciates the quirky side of literary history.
Just (AU) $25.00 + shipping
If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.” ― Mark Twain
Team it with the book and add a gift card!
Celebrate your love of literature and feline finesse with these beautifully designed matching tea towel and gift card, the ideal companions to this book.
Purchase the book, tea towel and greeting card together to receive
10% discount on tea towel + 20% discount on greeting card + $0 additional shipping
when dispatched together to the same address.
Great Writers & the Cats Who Owned Them will be available in October 2025.
Pre-order your book now and enter the draw to WIN the cost of your book REFUNDED. (Shipping excluded.)
A house isn’t a home without the ineffable contentment of a cat with its tail folded about its feet. A cat gives mystery, charm, suggestion.” ― L.M. Montgomery
Attend a talk
Susannah is giving lots of talks about literary cats. Come along to hear about the cat who dined on oysters, the one that was named Cigarette, and what Charles Dickens did with Bob’s paw. Who was the writer who rented kittens, and which cat assisted in the War effort during WWII?
Enjoy the stories of these paw-picked felines and other cat-tivating tails.
I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.” ― Hippolyte Taine
Everything that a cat is and does seems to me wonderful, precious, stimulating, calming, attractive and charming.” ― Paul Gallico
More about these extraordinary cats
This enticing new book looks at 17 great writers and their cats, showing how each cat was used in poems, novels, short stories, essays, diaries, letters and children’s books, and explaining the special relationship between writer and feline and the joy, solace and ideas the cat provided.
Writers and cats go together like pen and ink. Learn about Dr Johnson’s Hodge. What role did he play in the creation of the first great dictionary of the English language, and how did he come to be memorialised in a popular London statue?
Robert Southey is best remembered today for a story about a little girl who meets three bears, yet his great passion was not bears, but cats. His Rumpelstilzchen was adored, pampered and inspired a memoir about the cats with whom he shared his home.
Edward Lear, author of the superb The Owl and the Pussycat, was inspired by Foss, his cat, who, with only half a tail, would never have won a beauty contest.
Dickens was more of a dog man, yet was won over by a deaf kitten named Bob.
French author Colette had several husbands, but none of them ever mattered as much as her Chartreux cats, and her short story La Chatte reflects that passion.
Mark Twain so loved cats that when he went on holiday, he rented kittens so he would never be without feline company, and he adapted the rules of his favourite game, billiards, to accommodate cats present on the billiard table.
L.M. Montgomery dedicated a novel to a beloved cat, Sir Winston Churchill claimed that his cat Nelson contributed hugely to the war effort, and Ernest Hemingway, such a macho guy, turned into a total softie when it came to the more than twenty cats who condescended to share his homes.
Margaret Mitchell underwent the publicity of the film of Gone with the Wind with Old Timer at her side. Doris Lessing wrote movingly of her disabled cat, and Dame Lynley Dodd was inspired by two family pets when she created the memorable Scarface Claw and Slinky Malinki.
The book also includes fascinating anecdotes about literary cats—in hotels, bookshops, theatres, nursery rhymes, and stories.
This is a book for anyone who loves cats and great writing.
If you need help with purchasing a copy of this book, please contact Susannah here.
Susannah loves to talk about classic literature, and especially literary cats! She would love to hear from you about booking her to present a talk about literature. Please contact her here.
