Throgmorten is wonderful but Benvenuto, from The Magicians of Caprona, runs him close and my favourite DWJ cat of all is Brindle from the short story What the Cat Told Me:
“I am a cat. I am a cat like anything. Keep stroking me. I came in here because you were good at stroking. But put your knees together so I can sit properly, front paws under. That’s better. Now keep stroking, don’t forget to rub my ears, and I will purr and tell.”
Polly’s trip to Bristol and the gradual realisation that Reg has no intention of telling his girlfriend that Polly is moving in with them, and his dumping her at the station without checking she has money, a return ticket or anywhere to go, culminating in her wandering haplessly to the Clifton Suspension Bridge to find Morton watching her is horrifying.
It’s the episode that has stuck in my mind most from Fire and Hemlock, and oh, the relief, when she spots the poster for Tom’s Quartet and realises there is help nearby.
It’s not a good novel for Nicola but I do enjoy Peter and Daks having fun clearing out and reclaiming The Shippen in Peter’s Room.
Then the chapter with The Sprog’s death is so deftly and lightly written, and very moving: “… it was misery beyond bearing when animals died.” And the side-swipe at Ann when she reflects that “that Charlotte” (Brontë) probably told Emily it was wrong to care too much for animals just like Ann would.
”The geese should have been hers,” I think is that Nicola would have loved to see and hear them against the background of a moonlit Twelfth Night for themselves, whereas Ginty is probably revelling in them as a romantic background for a tryst with Patrick.
Tim is a great character, despite her inexplicable (to me) preference for Lawrie. It is refreshing to have someone who wants all the privileges she can get because she’s the headmistress’s niece!