Perlman’s feline frolic set to delight
Published in The Australian Jewish News
October 12, 2018
In 2005, the much-loved author Elliot Perlman visited Amsterdam. He was on tour for his newly-released book, Seven Types of Ambiguity. While enjoying a walk by the canals, he couldn’t help but notice a very happy cat — “the most blissed out, contented living thing I have ever seen” — sunbathing in a bay window, said Perlman over tea in an Elsternwick cafe.
“As a writer, you tend to think, what if? What could be the antithesis of that moment for the cat? Probably waking up to find that a dog had moved in. That would just be absolutely abhorrent and throw everything into chaos and distress,” he explained.
It was the hypothetical scenario which would be the catalyst for The Adventures of Catvinkle, Perlman’s latest title released on bookshelves by Puffin Books last week.
The concept had marinated over the last 14 years. Shortly after visiting Amsterdam, Perlman spent time with his sister’s family who were living in the UK. When his four-year-old niece asked her uncle to tell her a story, it began with a Dutch cat. Over the years, she would not forget, drawing pictures and encouraging Perlman to put pen to paper on The Adventures of Catvinkle.