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Four Ducks on a Pond

by Annabel Carothers

ISBN: 9781841588766
Imprint: Birlinn
Publication Date: Jun 2010
Format: Paperback
Price: £6.99
Stock Status: in stock

"The very important memoirs of a very literary cat ... a delightful book," - Argyll FM

This delightful account, written during a year in the life of a family on Mull in the 1950s, came to light after more than fifty years of neglect in a drawer. Being well camouflaged and unobtrusive, Nicholas the cat keenly observed the comings and goings of three generations of his family and their animals in a remote area of the Isle of Mull.

In the early 1950s life on the island was basic, without mains water or electricity, as each day followed the next. But sometimes the routine was disrupted with dramatic, funny, heart-warming and harrowing events; none of which escaped Nicholas’s attention. As the family cat, his contact with humans and animals alike gave him a unique opportunity to record the events that concerned them all. This charming story of a by-gone age will appeal to all ages, to lovers of the simple life, of big open spaces, of country living, of farm animals – and of cats in particular.

In 1951, Annabel Carothers sold her family house in London and joined her parents in Mull, setting up a smallholding with Carla, a spaniel, and Nicholas, a cat. During this period she wrote the novels It Happened to Rain, A Breeze in the Barley and Four Ducks on a Pond. Her first novel, A Breeze in the Barley was published by William Heinemann along with its sequel, The Silver Link. The trilogy was completed with Kilcaraig, which was published on 26 April 1982 – the day, tragically, she died. In 2008, her daughter, Fionna Eden-Bushell, discovered the manuscript of Four Ducks on a Pond in a desk drawer and submitted it for publication, finally and fittingly completing her mother’s publishing oeuvre.

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