cherry blossom image © Abi Gee 2007; kitten images © Emily Gee 2007; cover images © Harlequin Mills & Boon. 2010; web site © Emily Gee 2010
Lady Isabella has a long history of saving homeless animals. The kittens that she rescues during the course of Beauty and the Scarred Hero are based on a litter of stray kittens that I was lucky enough to look after and rehome a couple of summer's ago. They grew up in a garage on the vineyard where I worked, in Marlborough.
The two kittens that Lieutenant Mayhew chooses for his neice and nephew were taken straight from that litter: the fluffy little girl kitten, who was the boldest of the litter in her explorations (the phrase 'to boldly go where no one has gone before' describes her perfectly!), and the the sleepy little tabby boy who loved to lie in my hand purring while his belly was rubbed.
The kittens that Isabella keeps are the two I would have kept if my tenancy agreement had allowed me to have pets. One was the little black girl, who was always the first kitten to come running to meet me each day. In the book, she's named Boots (because the Major ruins a pair of boots pulling the sack of kittens from a creek). The second kitten I wanted to keep was a little grey tabby girl, who always started purring when I picked her up. She had a very distinct M on her forehead. To me she was Little M; in the book, Isabella searches for a name beginning with M.
Remember folks, spay and neuter your pets!
If Lady Isabella were real (not fictional) and alive today, she'd definitely be a patron of the SPCA. If you'd like to donate to the SPCA, or would like to offer a home to an animal in an SPCA shelter, click on one of these links:
