Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat

“For I will consider my cat Jeoffry” begins a much-loved section of Christopher Smart’s Jubilate Agno. Jeoffry was a real cat who lived 250 years ago, confined to an asylum with Christopher Smart, one of the most visionary poets of the age. In exchange for love and companionship, Smart rewarded Jeoffry with the greatest tribute to a feline ever written.

This book combines meticulous research with passages of dazzling invention to recount the life of the cat that has been praised as “a mixture of gravity and waggery”. The narrative roams from the theatres and bordellos of Covent Garden to the cell where Smart was held for mania. At once whimsical and profound, the story is set against the roaring backdrop of eighteenth-century London and through Jeoffry, we meet not just Smart, but Oliver Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson, Fanny Burney and the most famous actor of the age, David Garrick.

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Inspired and original.

Hilary Mantel

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An absolute classic.

Juliet Nicholson

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A heart-lifting delight; I absolutely loved it. A triumph.

Alexandra Harris

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