The Talking Cats from Tuscany

Laura Graham was once an actress who lived and worked in the United Kingdom, but she reached a point where she craved a new life and a new start in another country. She packed her bags and set off to begin life anew in Italy with her two beloved cats.

That was several years ago and since then she has re-invented herself as a writer of expat stories and of children's books. She has produced three books to date, but there are more on the way. The first called 'Down a Tuscan Alley' is the story of her life changing decision to move to Italy as a single woman to start a new life. A scary prospect for anyone, especially when you do it alone. If you read Down a Tuscan Alley you will understand that starting a new life as an expat is likely to result in many twists and turns as you become established, learn a new language and search for a way to earn a living.

Following on from her first novel she has started a series of stories based on the antics of her two naughty cats. The first in the series is her book 'A Tale of Two Tuscan Cats' and the second is her book called 'Tuscan Cats Get Into Mischief'.

These lovely cat stories are written in a way that will not only appeal to the children's audience they were intended for, but will also appeal to any cat loving adult.

Rosetta, the first of the cats rescued by the English mama was a feral cat, found in the woods and brought into the home of her rescuer. Soon to follow was Julie a domesticated cat left to fend for herself when her owners moved away. Luckily for both of them they found a very comfortable home with their English mama, although she did speak in rather an odd way, and their Italian babbo (father) who was a painter and artist who spoke normally.

The cats were destined to become models for his paintings and would become the toast of Italy. The talking, dancing cats from Tuscany that were very naughty cats indeed. But who would have known that their antics would lead to fame and fortune for their Italian babbo?

The second in the series, and yes there is also a third on the way, sees our central cat characters being led down the garden path by a wily old tomcat called Spiritino.

Spiritino has amorous intentions and introduces the two young ladies to wine, dancing and generally making merry. Not that they need a lot of persuasion, as you will have gleaned from the first book if you read them in the book series order. You can see that the introduction of a little drinking and making merry in the second book will attract the attention of a more mature adult audience, but the skill of the author is apparent as she keeps is at a level that is equally appealing to children.

All her books are available as both hard copy and in Kindle format. The illustrations have been done by Rosalbo Zacchei and are a mix of colour and pencil sketch illustrations. Perfect for the Kindle Fire.

I think there is no doubt that these cat tales of Rosetta, the once feral and now very beautiful cat with an attitude and her co-conspirator the very sweet Julie, who is ever so grateful to have been given a new home, will become popular with both adults and children.

The reviews you can find on Amazon are already suggesting that they are gaining favor with the adults as well as retaining their appeal to children. Sounds like a perfect combination for a bit of bed time story reading for parents and children of the cat loving fraternity. Mum or Dad can enjoy the stories and antics just as much as the kids making the bed time story a pleasurable experience all around.

Especially when Spiritino joins the gang and helps them get into even more mischief. He is, as a tough old farm cat, a little less reliant on his human masters and certainly knows his own mind. That is perhaps why he cannot really understand why poor Julie frets about the games they get up to and worries that perhaps her new found home and security may be taken away from her.

Rosetta doesn't worry about that at all, she is the Queen of the house and has special talents that the human mama and babbo could not do without. They would never turn her out onto the streets, no matter what she does.

There will be many readers of these books looking for the next one in the series with eager anticipation, especially as they grow in popularity, perhaps even seeing Rosetta, Julie and Spiritino become household names as the fame of the talking, dancing cats from Tuscany spreads far and wide. I know I enjoyed them and I don't even have a cat.