Little White King

‘An exquisite piece of work. I do not remember anything written about cats that was as good as this’ – Compton Mackenzie

‘A book to charm cat lovers everywhere’ – Kirkus Reviews

The Little White King was the loveliest of Marguerite Steen’s long line of cats.

As an only child, animals had filled a larger part in her life than human beings. Growing up, she lived in a remote cottage, in the depth of Lakeland woods; squirrels, rabbits, moles, grass-snakes and field-mice were her companions.

She was surrounded by innumerable cats – she recalls ‘a cloud of purr’ – and learned the subtleties of cat behaviour.

Above all, she learned to love them, and to respect cat character, with its many departures from the code human beings attempt to impose on them. Among other things, she learned that cats are capable of deep fidelity and ferocious courage.

But none of her many cats compared to her final, favourite Little White King.

The life of the Little White King was a brief one, but from the point of view of any cat lover – or indeed any lover of good writing – well worth recording.

Born stone deaf, but with beautiful snow-white fur, and love of human companionship, Steen soon took the place of his mother, protecting him and supporting him as he learnt to survive without the use of one of his senses.

Anyone who has owned and cared for a young cat will find much to remind them of the small being that contributed to the happiness and comfort of their home.

The record unfolds itself against the background of the matchless Berkshire countryside and the Georgian cottage to which Miss Steen has retreated from post-war London; the book is thus a picture of a most gifted writer’s country life as well as the biography of a little cat.

Praise for Marguerite Steen

‘Miss Steen is a superb manipulator of scene, and she makes her places as alive as her people’ - Daily Telegraph

‘Rich and enjoyable’ - The Observer

‘fine scenes and piquant portriats’ - The Sunday Times

‘a vivid narrative’ - Manchester Guardian

‘full of colour and character’ - John o' London's Weekly

‘rich, lavish, violent, passionate’ - Evening News

Marguerite Steen (12 May 1894 – 4 August 1975) was a British writer. Very much at home among creative people, she wrote biographies of the Terrys, of her friend Hugh Walpole, of the 18th century poet and actress (and sometime mistress to the Prince of Wales) Mary 'Perdita' Robinson, and of her own lover, the artist Sir William Nicholson. Her first major success was Matador (1934), for which she drew on her love of Spain, and of bullfighting. Also a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic was her massive saga of the slave-trade and Bristol shipping, The Sun Is My Undoing (1941). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951.